Title: Carter Reaches Out to His Preteen Fans
Topic: Winter 2001 Concert Review
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Source: NEWS; Pg. 08B
Author: Dave Tianen
Date: March 2, 2001
Carter reaches out to his preteen fans;
Idol may be a cutie-pie, but his talent is in dancing around lack of musical skill
If pop stars continue to become younger, it won't be long before we see the first concert tour sponsored by Huggies.
Last year wasn't a particularly notable one for music, but it was distinctive in one sense. It was the year of the middle schooler. A new tier of stars arose who were too young to appear in a high school talent pageant: Sammie, Charlotte Church, Jessica Andrews, Billy Gilman and perhaps most importantly -- Aaron Carter. Carter sold out the Riverside Theatre on Thursday night. Aaron Carter is basically teen culture for preteens. Very, very young preteens. When I took my seat in the second row, a little lady of about 7 seated behind me tapped me on the shoulder and sweetly asked, "Do you know you're at an Aaron Carter concert?"
It was an understandable question. Except for the two moms who came with them in the limo, their entire row was made up of little girls between about 5 and 8. For some of them, Aaron Carter had to be their first heartthrob after Bert and Ernie.
At 13, Carter most certainly owes his stardom to two factors: He is the little brother of Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, and he is a cutie-pie. Carter appears to have hit a growth spurt since his album "Aaron's Party" came out last year. He's taller and leaner, and his features have lost the cherub softness of the face on the album jacket.
Which is not to say he's a finished product as a performer. I haven't said anything about music yet, and that's not accidental. Aaron Carter is not a musician; he's a fantasy. Moreover, he's a fantasy for little girls who in a different, but recent, era would have been fantasizing about " My Little Pony."
Most teen pop figures are talented kids. They're embryonic, even raw, talents who may or may not mature into interesting adults. But they have the basics. They're attractive; they can dance; they can sing on key and even harmonize. There's a reason so many of them were Mouseketeers.
Aaron is a nice-looking boy who can dance a little. As a singer, he is probably the most inept teen idol I have ever seen, and I have seen them all since Fabian. Aaron is consistently off-key. His band and a troupe of four dancers try to cover for him, but you can only disguise a total lack of talent so much.
Carter's portion of Thursday's show was only an hour, and a portion of that was taken up by dance spots when he was off-stage and a band instrumental on " Walk This Way." Eventually, however, he had to sing -- often kid-friendly oldies such as "Iko Iko" or the Strangeloves' "I Want Candy."
Carter has a certain puppy-dog charm. He's so enthusiastic in spite of his sweeping lack of musicality that you have to kind of like him. Thursday, he flubbed an attempt at walking on his hands (he got it right later in the show), scampered off stage in the wrong direction and ran into the curtain at the end of the show.
I'm sure the little girls neither noticed nor cared about any of this. Despite that, it would probably be wise if Aaron didn't quit his day job.
The one in middle school.
