Video Premiere

About a ‘Toy’

July 19, 2010 0 Comments

Turns out there was a second cancellation for this past Saturday’s Chicago stop of Lilith Fair.

La Roux vocalist Elly Jackson took to Twitter to say she’d been diagnosed with pharyngitis and ordered not to sing until at least Tuesday, though the lineup change wasn’t top of mind for Lilith co-founder/headliner Sarah McLachlan. After Kelly Clarkson bowed out earlier this summer, La Roux was one of the few remaining acts I was geeked about seeing. Well, until I checked airfare to Chicago and decided the economics weren’t going to work in my favor. I even tried giving the tickets away gratis to friends and then via Craiglist, but alas, I had no takers.

Though grounded for 48 hours by her doctor, Jackson and musical partner Ben Langmaid still must be flying high this summer. “Bulletproof,” La Roux’s first U.S. single, reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Historically, it’s notoriously difficult for UK acts to break Stateside without tons of touring and additional promotion, but the duo’s catchy synthpop-by-way-of-vintage-Depeche-Mode has evidently been embraced by the iTunes generation.

Now we’ll see if La Roux can successfully follow up that Top 10 showing. While Interscope Records had reportedly slated “In The For Kill” as the second single here, I instead caught the video for “I’m Not Your Toy” on Logo’s NewNowNext the other night. It struck me as a curious choice, because it’s definitely not “Bulletproof Pt. 2,” and there are other, better tunes to pick from (“Quicksand” for one, “Fascination” for another). But I’m not an A&R guy, and if the selection of “I’m Not A Toy” is part of a masterplan that ensures La Roux is around for the long haul, all in good time then, right?

La Roux is scheduled to perform tomorrow on The View. No word on whether Jackson has been cleared to sing.

Purchase La Roux – “I’m Not Your Toy” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.