I'M BACK! Aly & AJ & Me

So it's been a long time since I last posted anything. Turns out working full-time, volunteering weekly, picking up extra jobs on the side, and moving your entire life to London, whilst also trying to conquer your reading lists for your Masters doesn't leave much free time to a) go out and do nice things so that b) you can sit down and write about them for a blog.

As mentioned, I've upped and moved my life to London to study for my Masters. I've also gotten a new job, picked up a second job (money is more important than my stress apparently), got a bunch of flatmates to handle, and am still trying to conquer my reading lists for the semester. Amongst such turbulent activity I've had to regress to consuming the culture of 11 year olds to cope....or....well....culture I actually consumed as an 11 year old. 

Aly & AJ in vintage Aly & AJ t-shirts show that returning to your past can be fun, not just cringe - from Refinery29

In case you hadn't heard, pop superstars and the stuff of legends to any girl under the age of thirteen in 2007, Aly & AJ have finally returned to music after a ten year hiatus with a grown up image suited to actual artists rather than child performers. Their upcoming EP has, however, suffered some release delays (unsurprising, given the last ten years of their career has consisted almost entirely of delays, postponements and the scrapping of two entire albums through contract changes) which means I've returned to their older hits instead - but so have Aly & AJ.

Many girls my age at that time had at least one of the Disney artist set on their iPod that they listened to religiously, be it Miley Cyrus (still in her Hannah Montana days) or Hilary Duff, Ashley Tisdale, etc etc. This was a peak time for exactly this kind of music, and plenty of us still listen to it today as a guilty pleasure, a nostalgic throwback to either a happier time or a less happier time that just really enjoyed these songs. Unfortunately, this is (almost) always accompanied by a cringeworthiness to be caught returning to your past self. This return to youth is so often, and for women in particular, seen as a regression, when really it's only a fun revisitation to something that was really special to you.

The first time I heard their music I would have been around eleven years old, about to move on up to secondary school and worried about making friends, a different school experience, and spending so much time in an unfamiliar building in an unfamiliar area. Central to the experience is the music I listened to at the time: Aly & AJ. 

What's exciting about this comeback so far is that Aly & AJ have distanced themselves from their image ten years ago, but have never once been disdainful of it. In a video for Refinery29, the two return to their biggest hit - The Potential Break Up Song - in karaoke form, and can't remember who sings what line, what the lines actually are, or where in the song each part goes. But instead of meeting their past selves with derision and irony, they take real joy in revisiting their history - even if they chuckle about it along the way, as they mock their music video and their attempts to be cool. With The Rhodes Bros they return to some of their music videos and rank them on a scale of fine to really embarrassing. But even when they laugh at their past work, it's underpinned by a fondness towards what they achieved at such a young age, even when it is dated and silly looking now. 

Aly & AJ don designer dresses with trainers, demonstrating a fashion know-how previously unknown

For all their new EP is shaping up to be the genuine high quality fare they've always been capable of but never really achieved due to restrictions from their label, returning to their old music is both a sound business move for them (noughties nostalgia is supremely in) but also a touching lesson - revisiting your past self, even the most embarrassing parts, can be a fun and joyous experience instead of an upsetting or ironic one. Their mature attitudes towards their career, and their openness to their musical history, marks a maturity well beyond that of their fellow Disney breakaways - rather than denying their achievements, they have honoured them - that is frankly refreshing. 

And so, although I look back at eleven year old me and cringe, I've been trying to look back in a more positive light, particularly as I make my first big move ten years later. At eleven, I never thought I would leave the city I was born in, never thought I'd survive school let alone achieve so well in further education, that I would never have exciting opportunities or really great friends. Aly & AJ were both the soundtrack of that angst, and the fantasy of the future - sisters who were the best of friends, with a great career and an exciting life. I find myself looking back alongside their own career retrospectives, and I'm trying to learn my lesson from them too. Cheers to them, and cheers to me too!