"Hollaback Girl": A Critical Analysis.

A

-AR_Seven-

Member
Gonna get a touchdown,

gonna take you out

Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl� is one of the most baffling pieces of music of the modern age. It’s got something to do with cheerleaders—that much is clear, judging from the chanting and the marching band that’s honking and tooting in the background. Beyond that, much scrutiny is involved in deciphering the song’s ambiguities. We were so vexed by the mystery that is “Hollaback Girl� that we have devoted countless hours to its study. Our conclusions are below. The first thing you should know, though, is that Gwen is not singing “I ain’t no Harlem fat girl�—at least, we don’t think she is.

Uh huh, this my shit

Gwen is introducing us to her shit.

All the girls stomp your feet like this

This talk of shit and stomping has nothing to do with actually stepping on feces. But what does it mean? From a reading of the later text, we can conclude that the song takes place in the world of high school athletics, and that Gwen is apparently leading the girls in a calisthenics exercise. The “shit,� we surmise, is what she calls the exercises she’s teaching the other girls.

A few times I’ve been around that track

So it’s not just gonna happen like that

Here, Gwen exhorts the girls to try harder as they jog around the track, reminding them that physical fitness is “not just gonna happen,� but must be worked at.

Cause I ain’t no hollaback girl

I ain’t no hollaback girl

These lines are the most confusing, but their meaning will become clearer later.

Oooh, this my shit, this my shit

Gwen repeats this four more times. She wants to make sure that we are well acquainted with her shit.

I heard that you were talking shit

And you didn’t think that I would hear it

Gwen has been the victim of some slanderous high school gossip, and she doesn’t appreciate it. Gwen is 35 years old sliding into MILF status at this point, but we’ll grant her some poetic license.

People hear you talking like that, getting everybody fired up

So I’m ready to attack, gonna lead the pack

Gwen is going to round up a “posse� of her girlfriends and retaliate against the person who’s been talking “smack� about her.

Gonna get a touchdown, gonna take you out

Gwen is going to beat up the person who wronged her, after she completes the cheerleading routine that will inspire the football team to score a touchdown. Gwen has interesting priorities.

That’s right, put your pom-poms down, getting everybody fired up

It seems the entire cheerleading squad is going to beat up the person who spoke ill of Gwen; they have put down their pom-poms, and they are now “fired up� to exact swift and terrible vengeance on Gwen’s behalf.

A few times I’ve been around that track

So it’s not just gonna happen like that

Cause I ain’t no hollaback girl

I ain’t no hollaback girl

Gwen is apparently the captain of the cheerleader squad; she is the girl who “hollas� the chants, not one of the girls who simply “hollas� them back. Given that the squad is preparing to beat somebody up on Gwen’s behalf, she’s picked a strange time to remind them that she is their leader and they are her sheep-like followers. Gwen obviously rules her squad with an iron fist.

Oooh, this my shit, this my shit [repeated four times]

Again with the shit.

So that’s right dude, meet me at the bleachers

No principals, no student-teachers

Both of us want to be the winner, but there can only be one

So I’m gonna fight, gonna give it my all

We learn that it was a “dude� who gossiped about Gwen. She challenges him to a fight at the bleachers. If he imagines it will be a fair, one-on-one fight, he is sadly mistaken. Gwen and her aforementioned “pack� will pounce on him like rabid wolves.

Gonna make you fall, gonna sock it to you

That’s right, I’m the last one standing, another one bites the dust

Gwen’s pack of furious cheerleaders leaves the boy a quivering, bloody heap behind the bleachers for the groundskeeper to discover the next day.

A few times I’ve been around that track

So it’s not just gonna happen like that

Cause I ain’t no hollaback girl

I ain’t no hollaback girl

Having completed their ghastly work, Gwen’s squad members return to the field and resume their cheerleading activities, as Gwen reminds them once more that she is the boss and they are all her bitches.

Oooh, this my shit, this my shit [repeated four times]

By calling her exercise routines “shit,� Gwen is showing us that for all her bravado, the character in this song secretly suffers from profound self-esteem issues. She is a complex antiheroine for an age of changing gender attitudes and expectations.

Let me hear you say, this shit is bananas

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Here, Gwen steps away from this bloody spectacle for a moment to comment on the madness and ugliness of what we’ve just witnessed, and, by extension, the petty rivalries of high school in general. This shit is bananas, Gwen tells us, and we can only agree. And lest we miss the point, she spells it out. And repeats it another three times.

A few times I’ve been around that track

So it’s not just gonna happen like that

Cause I ain’t no hollaback girl

I ain’t no hollaback girl

Back on the field, Gwen is still bullying the squad to carry out her routines. But now we see her in a new light, as the sad, lost creature she truly is.

Oooh, this my shit, this my shit [repeated four times]

As the song fades out, Gwen is left only with her “shit,� the mindless exercises that bring her no comfort from the raging emptiness within. As much as she “hollas,� no one hears her sad cries for help.

 
I really hope you didnt spend your own time writing that piece of shit

okayplayer. giving you true notes since 1987

"Win or lose, we booze."

 
No... but instead of making worthless denigrating comments in what I can only assume is a pathetic effort to inflate your meaningless post count, perhaps you'd like to offer us your own interpretation of this lyrical masterwork?

 
^actually, i was seriously wondering whether you wrote that or not, because if you didn't, you should footnote or site were you got that piece of shit from

okayplayer. giving you true notes since 1987

"Win or lose, we booze."

 
again with the shit

__________________

put on whatever makes you attractive

if it's not you then do it for the sake of fashion

your friends like a certain you

that's who you've got to be
 
i hate that song.

-Joel

~Phunkin Phatt Phreerider~
Capital City Rider, DFP
Silent Army

'Everybody calls me a zero. But I'm an internet hero.'
 
wow that was really funny... where did u get that from?

_______

To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kind of scary. I've wondered where this started and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus, and a clown killed my dad.

-jack handy
 
A Hollaback girl is a cheerleader who isn't as good as the ones up front. And in Japan a Banana is a half white half asian girl.

~Nicole

'Treat people as if they were
what they ought to be and you
help them to become what they
are capable of being.'
~Goethe

 
hahha, oh my god that's halarious. She's 35?

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

- Matt*

Brent likes to do his women like his boots, rear-entry. eh Chauncy
 
I never understood how that song became so popular without my knowalage. The first time I heard it was at my ex girlfriends prom (she broke up with me there but another story for another time, and No, i didnt do anything to ruin her prom) AND EVERYONE ELSE KNEW THE SONG!! they were all singing it. I was dancing and trying to figure out what was so great about it. I didnt figure it out. Then she started to go on about bananas. Then I stoped dancing in amazment at what could be considered good music now adays. I feel like an old man saying "Damn kids with there music.. and their tuxedos and fancy hairdoos" I have since heard the song 5 times. Prom was monday night. Today is wednesday. I guess this is all leading into a question. When was the song released? how long was I happier having not heard it for? But as an ending note, I will say that its damn catchy.

Like a virgin on promnight!

-Thom Savery

please pardon the cacography

.C.C.R..P.P.P.

'naahhmahhnahh

hahhh ... i mean ... the weekend of monday'

"go down to the bottom bunk and finish yourself"

"I may be the last to cross the finish line, but at least im in the first race - pun intended"

 
i didnt know she was 35....old ass negro talking about curb-stomping people cas she hears they are talking shit on her....wow

-kulpy-

gangsta raps lyrics are all the same, Someone gets shot, someones frontin, someones a wangsta, someones benchpressin, someones makin fried chicken, and the beans dont burn on the grill. You can see that shit in kentucky. Fuck the bronx, deep south bitches-scientist
 
i hate that song. overplayed. hardcore. listen to real music.

"i'll nosepress your box if you lipslide my rail"

"I wanna be bigger than Jesus, bigger than wrestling, bigger than the Beatles, and bigger than breast implants."

-Atmosphere
 
very nice haha, i hate her music, i somewhat respected her when it was "no doubt" but now it is scheer garbage.

Matman10: Man lat you had that 7 down but you binder poped off

Laterails:Yeah i think they aren't adjusted, or it could be the fact that all that is holding them together is one of my pubes
 
gwen should be shot...i hope she didnt read that cause she might curb stomp me for talkin "smack"

_______________________________________

i'd be better at skiing if i had better places to ski

-NS Skateboarding-
 
The amount of respect I have for you to critique that song totals an amount that cannot be quantified by Terran Methods. Holey Moley.

____________________

-Laura McIsaac

Skiing is the single most extreme form of motion attainable by a human being.
 
man, whenever i turn on much music that damn song is on! i've flipped though channels and it was on 3 seperate music stations at the same damn time!

No Props!
 
oh dude, that was one of the funniest things ive heard in a long time. and yeah, i have no clue what happend to gwen. she used to be semi talented, back before no doubts last album. but now, her music is garbage.

i looked on google but all i could find was 3D Animation porn-sxmarty6

ECS headwear, hit me up!
 
What some will do for money. That song was probably planned to be an anthem, therefore it needs no substance

 
Was respectable with no doubt, now she's lame. Someone told me a hollaback girl was someone you dated, dumped, and then asked out again. Anyway, the song is really annoying...

________________________________________

www.freeskiontario.com
 
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA! that was hilarious

that song is so unbelievably bad and im proud to say that ive never heard it in my life...well except at my school when a bunch of douchebags decided to sing it non-stop

 
well I would read it if well you know, I actually cared.

I live in a place far far away, where on occasion the telly tubbies will come to play....and that's when Ma gets out the shotgun. Damn critters climb in our gutter system all the time.
 
haha i remember stupid ass atl ski came on and wrote out all the lyrics to that song by heart, then we bashed him with out words...

what's up now bitch

"i'm sure 99% of this site knows that jon gets laid more than 99% of this site." strode420

"60% of the time it works, everytime"-brian fantana

ACLs suck dick
 
lol, that's awesome. Fricken' people are always asking me a "hollaback" girl is cause im in highschool, and adults arn't, now I know what to tell them...

 
banana is what she was called....saying banana's in her song in a different meaning is her trying to be poetic

the shit is the shit she has to deal with

and the hollabackgirl is about how she doesn't want to be someone's bitch

i think

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~***************~~~~~~~~~~~~

If it aint Gorilla, it aint Steeze

 
good job on the critical analysis, it probably wasnt a waste of time, i laughed.

_______________________

and saint jimmy did approch the rail and the lord did say "hit it you pussy". and saint jimmy did hit the rail and the lord was pleased
 
hahaha i love it. im going to save that. props man

'i wanted to get a candleholder but the store did not have one. so I got a cake.' R.I.P. Mitch Hedberg 1968-2005
 
sooo funny. i actually was trying to figure out the meaning of that song, and my analysis wasn't that funny.

THE POWER IS YOURS!

Dinosaurs are so cool.
 
from the understanding i had a hollaback girl is a booty call, but that doesnt jive with the song, u know give me a holla back girl if you want some etc

note to self avoid blowing motor....again
 
AR_Six is now a fucking pimp. Thats right people, hes got his "shit" together. Bravo.

David

Park City Water Ramps- July 10th-17th

What will you do with your summer?

Girls just don't understand boners...-skifiend

Montana- Snow through September!

Fuck Stereotypes.

 
Definately one of the best things I've read in a while. I fucking hate that song but if I hear it now I'll just think of that, laugh then turn it off.

Smoking pot leads to uhh... I forget.

50 nuts in your mothafuckin' mouth

What's with all the hate?

 
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