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David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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  • Andrei M

    The CD description:

    “Simply gorgeous award winning classically trained voices are used by these teen sisters to produce a collection of original pop, classic rock, adult contemporary – and even a little opera – that you won’t be able to turn off”

  • Hardley

    There MUST be laws to prevent this.

  • ocatagon

    Why is this on Boing Boing?
    Then again, I watched all of it.

    • David Pescovitz

      “Why is this on Boing Boing?”
      Because I found it interesting! The only reason any of us need to post something on BB!

      • ocatagon

         I guess “interesting” is one word that would describe that.

        • danimagoo

          Remember, interesting can mean “oh God, oh God, we’re all going to die.”

          • Jake0748

             Back in my college days, when one of the roommates cooked something, interesting could also mean: “it sucks”.

      • BunnyShank

        give those girls a ukelele and boing-boing-ers would be all over it

        • Robert Oliver

           Oh, so true…if they were wearing steam-punk-themed devices that would blow EVERYONE’S minds!!!

          • http://twitter.com/trempls tré

             While Occupying a Die Antwoord show (the uke is 3D printed with plans hosted on TPB)

  • Matt Palenske

    when you stare into the suburbs, the suburbs stare back at you

  • http://www.peterbagge.com/ Buddy Bradley

    hm, I’m not sure these songs suit their voices very well.

    But if you watch this video, especially the lovely song at 10:30, you can see these girls have some serious talent:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijodn9voxeg&feature=share&list=UU0CKNCEYSZS0a0IIXwEkxFQ

    • http://www.facebook.com/Kai911 Jun-Kai Teoh

      Yeah I watched their Odos Oneiron video out of curiosity, and they do have good voices – just horrible music videos and picking songs that just doesn’t fit them.

    • Grahamers2002

      Dude, lay off the crack pipe.  They were horrible in that video too.  Another 60 seconds I won’t get back!

  • millie fink

    Hmmm, smells like ambitious parent.

    • asuffield

      Apparently they were taught to sing by their father. Which is a pity – there’s some real vocal talent there, but they need a better teacher; their breathing is poor, making them sound reedy and thin.

      Also their things are gratuitously overproduced, their dancing is robotic miming, and there’s just no passion in it. I think that’s a complete list of why people are looking at this and thinking it’s “off”.

      They could be very good if they found something they loved and pursued it. They don’t love this, and it shows.

      • Robert Oliver

         Dear lord…they’re fracking teenagers; not professionals….

        • http://tryingsense.blogspot.com/ R_Young

          Also: they apparently hit it huge.  Quality can be created, taught, or faked, but fame (without funding) is just luck.

          oh the cynicism it burns.

      • CH

        Hmm… yes, “off” is what I was also thinking, and yes that’s probably why. They have really good voices, but with a “but”, and the two songs above just didn’t sit with them at all. They have lots of potential, but they should find their own voices.

  • TheOven

    What are the chances that they’re christians, I wonder?

    • Andrei M

      Only the Lord can judge the states of their hearts.

      • http://tryingsense.blogspot.com/ R_Young

        Also: millions of terrible people on the internet.

    • http://twitter.com/AwesomeRobot AwesomeRobot

      Welp, http://youtu.be/If0lpi_RjUM

      I guess one of the better things to come out of religion is the cultivation of singing talent through choir. 

      • millie fink

        Good GAWD. It just gets worse and worse.

    • sqyntz

      About the same as the chances they are home-schooled.

    • http://twitter.com/writebastard Ian Wood

      Yeah, you keep wondering about that. Maybe they’re Jewish.

  • corydodt

    They sing beautifully, but the videos seem designed to produce fame-through-Internet-backlash of exactly the sort that professional scumbag Patrice Wilson of Friday fame would have engineered on purpose. The destruction of a minor for the purposes of self-aggrandizement is monstrous, but it would be doubly so to take someone genuinely talented and do that to them.

    • Grahamers2002

      “They sing beautifully”   No!  Speaking as objectively as one can, these girls do not sing beautifully.  It is what the film-makers fop the 1920s might have portrayed as pretentious, but even THEN everyone knew it was just awful.  

      Perhaps they have slightly above par tone tot ehir voices, but they can’t breath, they sound weak, and they drift out of tune frequently.  

  • http://twitter.com/AwesomeRobot AwesomeRobot

    Good call on their end to disable YouTube comments. 

  • cubejockey

    this is opera for pediphiles

    • invictus

      People who love… long walks on the beach?

  • folkclarinet

    “Real” opera singers don’t use mics…

    • Ipo

       Real opera singers have voices. 

      • Boundegar

        Real opera singers have operas to sing in.

    • http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi

      Yeah, they just sing so hard all nearby blank CDs vibrate away into finished recordings.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rich-Lord/1651762997 Rich Lord

    These young ladies deserve the utmost respect.Voices for Handel, Not for songs that were pretty crappy to begin with.  If they were my daughters I would be very proud.

     She’s probably somebody’s only light.

    Gonna shine tonight.

    Yeah, she’s probably somebody’s baby, all right.”

    • millie fink

      I do not doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.

    • http://www.peterbagge.com/ Buddy Bradley

      If they were my daughters I would be very proud.

      I agree. According to their Facebook page, they can sing in six languages, regularly perform shows for charity, and are nationally ranked junior tennis players. I hope my own daughter is just half as talented as this when she gets older.

      • jayson

        I hope that when I have kids, they won’t be judged by the number of dancing-bear “talents” they can show off at church socials, but can have actual happy childhoods doing what makes them happy—not their parents.

        • http://www.peterbagge.com/ Buddy Bradley

          Teenage years do not exactly qualify as “childhood” but anyway why do you presume that these young ladies do not have “actual happy childhoods” and are just trying to please their parents? Teenagers are old enough to do what they want independently of their parents.

          As for myself, I’ll encourage my children to follow their dreams and support them as much as I can, but I certainly won’t “judge” them on how many “talents” they have. If you got that impression from my comment then I didn’t express myself very well.

          • http://profile.yahoo.com/AG5JAB3QPOQCIYHAJJ6IVROJYI Mark

            “Teenage years do not exactly qualify as “childhood” ”

            Approximately half of them do.

            Stay away from my daughters until you figure that out.

      • Stooge

        they can sing in six languages

        Or, to put it another way, they can sing.

      • Grahamers2002

        Everyone in high school choir can sing in six languages.  

  • Halloween_Jack

    Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised–I was expecting something like the Shaggs, or Rebecca Black at best. So their act needs a little work, so what? They’re teenagers, people! FFS. I hardly thought I’d be the one on BB comments telling people not to be so cynical, but really. 

  • lafave

    They are talented. They just need to select better songs (songs that suit them better) and better videos.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_FYZTS2NNWMFRKGXZFT6EBNOYZY Hamfisted

    I was fascinated by the waves in the background. An ocean of computer-generated gloop.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=640537025 Jennifer Kanis

    Don’t get me wrong they are talented… however they “dance” like 40 year old drunk women… thats kinda plus actually.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/kenahoo Ken Williams

    In the Styx video, 3:25 FTW.  That’s just great.

  • Ipo

    People here keep using the word “talented”.  I do not think it means what they think it means. 
    These are trained voices.  omfg

  • http://twitter.com/DonCarlitos Charlie McHenry

    A bit blissed-out for me. Definitely not Kawaii Desu. Part of me just doesn’t expect teenage singers to select such titles and sound like this. It feels counter-intuitive, and not in a good way. Want teenage talent? There’s plenty out there. Like Kathleen Gorey Mcsorely on the fiddle. 

  • nachoproblem

    Okay look, I think we can all agree to point and laugh at the lousy material, cheesy production, tasteless art direction, etc. rather than at the girls themselves. Furthermore, there’s an abundant but not unlimited supply of talented AND/OR trained singers, both of those having a value it would be foolish to dismiss. BUT, our current culture tends to treat them as commodities rather than individuals, and this is the result.

    Also, that lesson is the only thing I find interesting about the videos. And it’s not that interesting of a lesson.

  • 10xor01

    There’s also a video of them singing the National Anthem at a White Sox game.  The levels on the recording are too low, but it’s a capella and reveals more of the nuance in their voices.  I’ve never heard such a soft, almost tender, rendition of the National Anthem.

    And there’s a video of Stephany singing Gershwin’s Summertime at a festival.  The mix isn’t great, and the piano is a bit too loud.  But it’s pretty damn impressive for such a young voice.

  • jasper mclean

    They’re best friend’s name is Ana.

  • http://twitter.com/paulkarns paul karns

    I thought they had a dose of talent until I dug into their YouTube channel and watched bits of a couple videos. Scary. So scary. If this is talent, it is talent destroyed by the ease of creating YouTube content…

  • grs

    Oh David, how dare you tarnish the great name that is Styx. Survivor may have committed many sins in their past, but they did not deserve this. Shame, David. Shame. I order 10 Hail Marys to you.

  • gwailo_joe

    No insult to these young performers: these girls have some talent.

    Looking past these (admittedly awful) videos; it could be said these girls can sing.  But I call them ‘girls’; not young ladies:

    They are still in an embryonic stage.  Talent-wise; naturally.  There is a great deal of room for growth…but I have to be concerned with the direction they are being led: ‘Come Sail Away’ in sailor-suits???

    Regardless: Juilliard bound or TMZ fodder…I wish them luck.

    I can’t really talk shit: I’ve never made a better video. :D

    • JPhilipp

      The videos are perfect for virality. Can’t decide if terrific master plan, or horrible amateur directing.

  • http://twitter.com/sckinjctn SCK

    I will never recover from that.

  • electricdoodle

    Yet another insidious American plan to rule the world by destroying our IQ! After a mere 10 seconds blood was pouring from my nose…After 15 seconds I had an irrational urge to watch an episode of ‘Saved by the Bell’….Run, save yourselves….Arrrggggg!

  • http://theladyfingers.blogspot.com/ Ladyfingers

    It’s like Miranda Sex Garden, but crap.

  • paniculture

    Truly terrifying. If today’s youth cultural expression is any indication, we are so hopelessly doomed.

  • https://me.yahoo.com/a/v1HMpqF1xcyNomt3h5v1loK7ptn.lKhkWA--#7ed70 Stefan

    Is this art?

    • http://www.upso.org upso

      yes

  • kupsu

    My headphones broke when I was listening to this. Coincidence? I think not!

  • http://www.facebook.com/dimitrios.papagiannis Dimitrios Papagiannis

    That’s All Folks

  • Kelly M

    The awesome intro in the first song keeps making me think of this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYAAbbuEpnw

  • http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi

    The videos are indeed horrendous train wrecks of shitty production and a lack of even slightly interesting ideas but the girls can sing reasonably well. There’s room for improvement no doubt, but their singing is at least as good as your average pop-star’s voice. 

    Whoever has done the sound production needs to never listen to another 80s prog rock CD again though.

  • http://tryingsense.blogspot.com/ R_Young

    I don’t know how to interpret this, so I’ll let Fry do it for me.

    http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/30791468.jpg

  • http://profiles.google.com/macrumpton Michael Crumpton

    Quite nice, although the sailor moon cosplay could have been kicked up a notch.