Officially teenagers at this point in their career (four years and going strong), the cuties of
Care Bears on Fire get poppy with their follow-up to 2007's I Stole Your Animal. Now a complete girl group, with the departure of Lucio and the initiation of Jena, they've moved in a mall-punk direction -- more in the style of
Miley Cyrus,
Selena Gomez, or the type of rock you might hear on Radio Disney than the classic punk groups you might see on their T-shirts. To be honest, they were never really that true to the '70s sound to begin with, but what do you expect? They're kids! It's hard to imagine any little girls actually getting excited by the bands their parents saw in the olden days. Instead, they should be pointing out the lame-itude of their parents, or engaging in typical lunchroom gossip: boys they like, girls they don't like, fashion, homework, and that sort of thing. Sophie, Jena, and Izzy tackle these types of schoolyard topics throughout
Get Over It!, and while the music doesn't show any
Patti Smith or
Ramones influence, the girls do manage to channel the punk spirit of yesteryear with bratty adolescent rebelliousness. Sugary, high-pitched vocals, tight harmonies (think
Puffy AmiYumi), and simple bar-chord progressions fuel the fire, as the trio plows through relentlessly repetitious hooks like, "You should just get over it," "You can't make me," "I know you don't care what I say/Better listen anyway," and "Don't wanna follow rules, gonna do it my way!" The tunes are super catchy, to the point of being unshakable (good luck getting the "Nananananananana, don't wanna be like everybody else" chorus of "Everybody Else" out of your head), but the tracks that really stand out are the ones that break away from bratty exclamations and explore the true issues of being a teenage girl. "Barbie Eat a Sandwich" questions beauty standards, "My Problems" is a battle with adolescent insecurities, and "Met You on MySpace" points out the dangers of cyber-stalkers on social networks. It's family-friendly punk-pop for ages eight and up. The messages are clean and wholesome enough to be grown-up approved, and the songs are by and for kids, so kids should be able to relate. ~ Jason Lymangrover