Lykke Li heads to the States to teach a lesson in pop

By Lindsey McElroy
DePaul Critic

These days the formula for a packaged pop princess goes something like this – start with an attractive young girl, add a delicate voice and doe-eyed innocence and oops, you’ve done it again. However, in the case of Swedish songstress Lykke Li (pronounced Lee-key Lie) there lies proof of what can happen when you add true talent and artistry to the above formula.

The 22 yr. old artist’s first major U.S. release, "Youth Novels," is set to debut Aug. 19, 2008. Produced by Bjorn Yttling, of Peter, Bjorn and John, the album will be released under Li’s own label, LL Recordings. Perhaps it is the freedom from heavy-handed label executives that gives Youth Novels its “anything goes” feel.

The album, which sounds like the club anthem for broken-hearted twenty-somethings, showcases Li’s talent as an artist more so than a singer/songwriter. If you were to say her sound reminds you of Kylie Minogue you wouldn’t be wrong. Nor would you be wrong if you noted influences of Madonna, Bjork, Stevie Nicks or even Bright Eyes.

"Youth Novels" is an experimentation of beats and genres from pop to hip hop to indie rock and soul. Just when you’re ready to write her off as the European Britney Spears, with whispering, ethereal introductions to songs, Li unloads a beat so complex it’s hard to tell what instruments comprise it.

The lyrics for both “I’m Good I’m Gone” and “Breaking It Up” are sung partially through a megaphone with accompaniments including hand claps, piano, and xylophone.

Switching to a more upbeat mood, “Dance, Dance, Dance” and “Little Bit” are pop-infused dance tracks with percussive beats and lyrical hooks.

Then proving she can pull off a stripped-down, melodic track, the Spanish-inspired interlude, “This Trumpet in My Head” features a beautiful and simple combination of a trumpet solo and string guitar.

Li’s voice keeps a calm, steady flow throughout each track, giving the album a cohesive feel despite the constantly changing mix of sounds. Though her voice is childlike, and at times slightly off-key, it creates a genuine sense of loneliness and desperation on tracks that center on themes of love and heartbreak. What is refreshing is the way Li tackles these themes with a maturity and cynicism few artists her age have.

“I keep a leash around you/and I keep it nice and tight/in case you would go walking/over forbidden lines,” - “Window Blues.”

Ultimately, the one element Li always stays true to is an original beat. Hopefully with time she will abandon the “if it makes noise use it” approach and settle into a more focused sound. If so, she may single-handedly rewrite the formula for how to become an American pop-star.




Additional Video Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoQQ6Qed024&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngd45o-M_M4&feature=channel

They let me play

“If you let me play sports,
I will learn what it means to be strong.”

In 1995 Nike aired an ad campaign that didn’t focus on a shoe or a ball. It focused on an idea, a belief that sports benefit young girls in ways well beyond physical fitness.

The voices of young girls told us, “If you let me play sports, I will have more self-confidence. I will be 60 percent less likely to get breast cancer. I will be more likely to leave a man who beats me. I will be less likely to get pregnant.”

As a competitive athlete I was inspired.



Fast forward to last month when I read an article in The New York Times Magazine entitled, “The Uneven Playing Field” and I was anything but inspired.

Let’s start with the cover page - a picture of a blue-eyed, fair-skinned, pony-tailed teenage girl heading a soccer ball. That sounds fine until you mention that she resembles a victim of a horrendous car wreck rather than an athlete, sporting a neck brace and a full head cast.

If readers manage to get past the cover and open the magazine they will read as author Michael Sokolove discusses the “injury epidemic” plaguing women’s sports today. For the most part Sokolove focuses on female high school and travel soccer teams and the increased rate of A.C.L. (anterior cruciate ligament) injuries among them. However, he offers little statistical evidence of this increase, instead recounting one-off stories of individual players and teams.

As for why injury rates in high school athletics remain higher for boys’ sports than girls’? Sokolove dismissively claims that the numbers are “complicated by football,” as if football exists as an exception to the rule.

While the issue is compelling, and certainly worth exploring, what is most disappointing about the article is how Sokolove fails to even consider addressing and fixing this “casualty rate” in women’s sports.

If the author had his way, he would probably wrap young girls up in bubble wrap and send them back to 1972, before Title IX existed and all was right with the world.

Instead Sokolove offers young female athletes three choices – play injured, don’t play at all or learn to play like a boy. Perhaps it is this way of thinking that continually pushes elite female athletes to go to extremes to prove their mental and physical toughness.

For arguments sake, here are some more options to consider.

Hold coaches accountable. If young girls are not getting the proper training to help prevent injuries then some amount of blame needs to fall on the coaches. Youth sports have reached a level of specialty that requires coaches to be experts – not someone who daylights as a math teacher. Coaches should understand the risk of injury and what they can actively do to prevent it.

Make training programs more comprehensive. If weakened muscles are to blame for the majority of ACL tears in women, then strengthening exercises can be tailored to target those muscles.

Embrace our differences. Too often men’s sports set the standard for the right way to play while women’s sports are simply an inferior version of the real thing. Instead, we should respect the skills that both men and women bring to the field.

Mary Jo Kane, director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport at the University of Minnesota, offered one key defensive point against Sokolove’s claims.

“We need to do everything we can to prevent injuries. But when you look at the stories that get told…there is a disproportionate emphasis in things that are problematic or that are presented as signs of women’s biological difference or inferiority,” Kane said.

Fortunately, organizations such as The Women’s Sport Foundation exist to shed light on some the positive stories. Founded in 1974 by Bill Jean King, the Foundation works to increase the participation of girls and women in sports and fitness through education, grant-giving, recognition and advocacy programs.

According to its website:

• As little as four hours of exercise a week may reduce a teenage girl's risk of breast cancer by up to 60 percent.
• 80 percent of the female executives at Fortune 500 companies identified themselves as former "tomboys" - having played sports.
• Today there are 10 times as many women playing high school sports as there were in 1972 (before Title IX was enacted). Five times as many women now play sport in college.
• Girls and women who play sports have a more positive body image and experience higher states of psychological well-being than girls and women who do not play sports.

Bottom line - we should be encouraging young girls to participate in sports not employing scare tactics to chase them away.

I was in competitive sports for 18 years and suffered my share of injuries. But would I trade a few aches and pains for the lessons I learned? No.

They let me play sports and I learned what it means to be strong. I wish all girls and boys could have that chance.

Flying high on the front nine

By: Lindsey McElroy

Three words, eighteen times over. “Execute, Evaluate, Release.” This is the mantra golfer Andy Matthews repeats to himself after each hole he plays.

Clean cut and sporting a year round tan, Matthews definitely fits the part of a veteran PGA player. But his professional career is still on the front nine. Matthews turned pro in the fall of 2003 and has since competed as a member of both the Canadian Tour and the Southern Africa (Sunshine) Tour.

“Some of the other tours may have more money but I think the Canadian tour is a better place to learn how to play because you travel…and get the experience of playing a full tour,” Matthews says.

Matthews began playing at age 5 after tagging along with his Dad on the golf course. While most kids his age were watching cartoons, he was watching weekend golf tournaments. His youthful smile and charm make it easy to imagine young Andy sitting cross-legged in front of the television set watching his idols play.

Fourteen years later, at his first US Open qualifier, Matthews was walking the course with those idols, including legends Tom Kite and Jose Maria Oasavo. “I was in the same locker room and in the same golf tournament with all the guys I grew up watching…from then on I knew what I was going to do,” Matthews said.

Heavily recruited by Michigan State and Pepperdine, Matthews hoped to carry on the family legacy at the University of Michigan. Both his father and grandfather spent their college days in Ann Arbor. Matthews didn’t wait around for Michigan to come to him – he called head coach Jim Carras directly. When Carras answered the phone he told Matthews, “I know who you are…I was waiting to hear from you.”

As a Wolverine, Matthews was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year After and earned All-Big Ten first team honors in 2002.

Since graduating and turning pro, Matthews has spent the last few years learning how to tailor his physical and mental training. A typical practice week consists of four to five hours of on-course work a day, followed by cardio, strength and flexibility training. But it is the mental training, or “learning how to think,” that Matthews finds invaluable.

With the help of sports psychologist Jack Wilson, Matthews has developed a pre and post-shot routine to help him better process and analyze his performance.

Like most professional athletes, Matthews has battled his share of injuries. In January 2007, he underwent surgery to have a hernia repaired, an injury that kept him off the course for three months. Just this past fall, Matthews strained a groin muscle and was again forced to take time off.

Rather than get discouraged Matthews saw the time off as a blessing. It gave him the opportunity to accomplish another lifelong goal - getting his pilot’s license. A quote on Matthews’ Facebook page reads, “More than anything else, the sensation (of flying) is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive of such a combination.” (Henry David Thoreau).

His pilot’s license came in handy months later when Matthews chartered a small plane to Oakmont, Pennsylvania to make his first appearance at the U.S. Open.

Matthews played to a hometown crowd during the qualifying sectional in Chicago, Illinois and after 36 holes and a tie break playoff he was in. He and two of his old college buddies qualified for the Open. “It was a 3-hour drive back to Grand Rapids from Chicago and I was on the phone the entire time,” Matthews laughs.

The following day Wilson, who works with Matthews three to four times per week, gave him the best advice of the tournament. “Enjoy the craziness today but early tomorrow, let’s make a plan to get out of the chaos.”

Exactly one week after the qualifying round, Matthews was standing on the green at Oakmont. “I always got most nervous driving to the club each morning. Eating breakfast was probably the most difficult thing I did every day. But once I got on the driving range – that’s when I felt most comfortable,” Matthews said.

Matthews did not advance beyond the qualifying round but he still remembers that week as the best of his life. The once starry-eyed teenager now has a more mature perception of life and golf. “What made the week for me was the fact that I had so many supporters come out and watch. To think that just me playing golf can bring so many different people together…it’s very humbling for me,” says Matthews.

After six seasons on tour, Matthews’ biggest frustration with the game has nothing to do with his performance but with the amount of time it keeps him away from home.

The youngest of three children, Matthews grew up in Ada, Michigan, about 12 miles east of Grand Rapids. He still carries his childhood nickname, “Beaver” - as in Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver - a glowing testament to the kind of upbringing Matthews had.

The 28-year-old’s first memory of golf is playing with a seven iron and a putter given to him by his Uncle. His father recalls their days on the golf course as great family bonding time. “Andy would hit the ball and then we would pick it up and go to where my ball was lying… he enjoyed riding in the cart as much as he did playing the game,” he recalls.

When asked the greatest lesson the game has taught him, Matthews quotes the father of his idol, Davis Love III. “Follow your dreams and enjoy the trip”.

With any luck the back nine of his career will be a long one.