Aly & AJ

One Liner: Ex-Disney actress sisters still out there making pop music

Wikipedia Genre:  Pop rock, indie pop, synth-pop
Home: Torrance, CA

Poster Position: 13
Weekend One Only.  Saturday.

Thoughts:  I just knew I was about to hear something that sounded like a pre-packaged Disney group.  Just by the name of the group.  Absolutely sounds like the name of a group that would have spun off from Jessie or Bunk'd or one of the many other shows I have heard from the other room from years of my kids watching.

HAHA!  And I know what I'm saying!  One of their first singles, back in 2004, was used in a Disney film Ice Princess, and then a cover of "Do You Believe in Magic" was used in the soundtrack for a Disney Channel movie Now You See It, in which Aly also had a starring role as Allyson Henlen.  Also, "the pair starred as sisters in the 2006 Disney Channel Original movie Cow Belles, with "On the Ride" from their debut album Into The Rush serving as the movie's theme song. The sisters also starred in a Disney Channel television pilot Haversham Hall, although the show was not picked up for series."  Their Wikipedia notes that AllMusicGuide "does praise them for having a real singing ability, citing 'Aly & AJ can actually sing – their vocals have more personality than prefab Disney hopefuls like Hayden Panettiere or Caleigh Peters – and the arrangements are slick without resorting to flashily empty pap.' "  They have toured with the Cheetah Girls and Hannah Montana.  But in 2009 they left their label and changed their name to 78violet (which sounded like a tough time and maybe a mistake, because they switched back in 2015).  Recently, one of their songs from 2007 became a TikTok hit and so they've found some notoriety again.

Here is that song, their most popular by a long way, called "Potential Breakup Song."  The original, clean version has 122.8 million streams.

Sounds a lot like old Kesha with the light Autotune and empowerment/kissoff lyrics.  Apparently, when this blew up again, they released a new version with explicit lyrics.  Which is such an odd thing to do.  Catchy tune.  I get it.  But the video is a pile of quick cuts of them flouncing their very blonde hair about and making poses.  Absolutely sounds and looks like an "edgy" Disney video.

I know you'll be shocked, with their provenance, but there is also a deeply cheesy cover of "Walking on Sunshine" in their top ten songs.  Oh, and they are sisters.  Alyson and Amanda Joy Michalka.  6 albums - 2005's Into the Rush, 2006's Acoustic Hearts of Winter (the obligatory Christmas album), 2007's Insomniac, 2018's Ten Years, 2020's We Don't Stop, 2021's a touch of the beat gets you up on your feet gets you out and then into the sun (which is a frontrunner for the most annoying album title of all time), and a number of singles and EPs sprinkled in over the years.

The new tunes are fine.  Nothing on that new album is just lighting me up, but it's also relatively solid generic pop music that won't hurt anyone's feelings.  Their voices really are solid.  "Paradise" sounds like they are aiming for the Taylor Swift sound.  "Slow Dancing" is almost country-Lana-Del-Rey-sounding.  Their newest single is the other one I'll give you - "Like Whoa" with 396k streams.

Oh, this is a re-make of a song from them from 2007.  I was going to say they still sound like cheesy little girls, but its just because they are playing one of their old cheesy little girl songs.  The new stuff on that 2022 album is much better.

And they aren't Disney princesses anymore: "The music video for their 2020 single "Joan of Arc on the Dance Floor", directed by Aly & her husband Stephen Ringer, featured clips of Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who were responsible for the 2018 confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the wake of sexual assault allegations against him, as well as a thank you to his accuser Christine Blasey Ford. The video's credits also include a thank you to Anita Hill, who accused Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991 prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court."  Just jumping right into the political zone there.  Let's throw that one into the mix too.  7.4 million streams.

So deep, with the French written on the screen and the crying in a crown thing.  "we don't stop until mascara's on the dance floor, we say no, Joan of Arc is on the dance floor" is the chorus to that song.  WTF is that about?  Yeah, the music on their newest album is the best stuff in their catalog.  That tune is not great.

I almost assuredly will not see them, unless my kids somehow make me do it because of a 15 year old TikTok song.

Hold on, there is more than you just need to know about.  Their merchandise lines back when Disney was trying to market them to the masses of little girls (all thanks to Wikipedia):

• In 2007 Huckleberry Toys released Limited Edition Hello Kitty Aly & AJ dolls to selected Target stores and later Toys R Us
• On November 20, 2007, The Aly & AJ Adventure game was released for the Nintendo DS. In the game, the player plays as their assistant, who helps them record songs and direct a music video.
• In June 2008, the duo released their own paperback adventure books, called Aly & AJ's Rock 'n' Roll Mysteries, each part describing Aly & AJ on tour, every book describing a mystery in a different city. The drawings in the books were done by Aly. 
• Performance Designed Products released Aly & AJ-designed guitars on November 10, 2008. Aly's guitar features a heart-and-crossbones print in pink (PlayStation 2) and AJ's guitar is in the shape of the Aly & AJ heart logo featuring bright pink and purple zebra print (Wii, PS2).  {I am guessing that means these guitars were for Guitar Hero or something?}
• The duo also had clothing, accessories, jewelry, and cosmetics lines. According to Forbes and AOL (and who wouldn't trust AOL?), they were one of Hollywood's highest earning singers under the age of 30 in 2008.