Leslie Hall: How She’s Going Out (not necessarily in a flame of glory)?
When I first discovered Leslie Hall in 2006, what I liked the most about her was her completely unapologetic nature. She was big, she loved gem sweaters (or at least her constructed persona loved them), and she was lo-fi all the way.
Since then, several major plot points in the career of Leslie Hall have occurred: the release of her more polished (and excellent!) Doorman’s Daughter, her appearance on a Nickelodeon show “Yo Gabba Gabba” (which is aimed at tiny tots), her insistence on having the majority of her shows “All Ages,” her featured You Tube video “How We Go Out Version 2″ (which earned her over 1,000,000 views), and now the re-invention of her “Zombie Killer” music video with cameos galore (including Elvira—though she only is present in voice over… I guess she couldn’t make it to the video shoot). Oh, and this revised song will also be on her new album entitled ceWEBrity.
I guess what this rant is about is something that I saw coming all along: Leslie Hall, by testing out various images and styles and levels of political correctness, is tailoring herself in order to get as many admirers as possible (even if those admirers are in their cribs gnawing on Gerber’s). Leslie Hall’s image, which seemed at first to be unapologetic, is becoming more and more plastic as her fan base grows. I don’t think it’s [primarily] about money or “selling out” in the traditional sense. After all, “selling out” implies getting signed to a huge record label and becoming excited by the prospect of product endorsements. No, it’s not about that. It is about a deep need to be admired, which is charming if you look at her earlier work. But when that need to be admired goes from a charming quirk to bordering on obvious desperation, that’s not exactly the way to maintain your adult fan-base (or at least the indie fan base with which she started).
Don’t get me wrong, I like Leslie Hall. But I used to love her.
Leslie Hall’s Timeline O’ Change
Original “Zombie Killer” (2005):
Appearance on Yo Gabba Gabba (though she made a random appearance on the public access show “Chic-a-go-go” years ago—so this isn’t her first appearance with kiddies, just her most widely exposed kiddie romp):
Revised “Zombie Killer” with guest appearances by Mark Borchardt and Mike Schank of American Movie and the disembodied voice of Elvira (Notice how she has removed the part about shooting the zombie children in the brains. Though there is some überfake carnage…) (2008):
Come on. She’s still an unsigned artist living in Iowa trying to get her name out there. She’s as awesome as ever and I think it’s amazing she convinced Elvira to do guest vocals on the song. Give her a break and show some support. Nobody else is doing what she’s doing. And I think the video looks amazingly cool and stylized.
Leslie Hall has had a great evolution yet she’s still the same great and fabulous artist she’s always been!! Not to mention that she is amazingly talented!!
Go Shatner, go Shatner!