LOS ANGELES, CA. (Top40 Charts/
Bubbles and Cheesecake) - On November 25, the debut video clip for "It's a Woman Thang," from Allee Willis and Holly Palmer's EP "The Soul of
Bubbles & Cheesecake" became a YouTube "Featured Video." 24 hours later, it's amassed more than 300,000 views (currently at half a million) and become a flashpoint for a YouTube gender fracas.
Bubbles & Cheesecake are Willis and Palmer's respective alter-egos, a free-spirited duo whose DIY, multi-media collaborations are based at https://www.bubblesandcheesecake.com, a hyper-interactive realm they launched last month. The project evolved from a songwriting partnership between Allee Willis - a GRAMMY-winning, Emmy and Tony-nominated composer whose songs have sold over 50,000,000 records including Earth, Wind & Fire's "September" and "Boogie Wonderland," the theme to Friends and the current Broadway musical The Color Purple (which also opens in Los Angeles December 13) - and singer-songwriter Holly Palmer, an LA favorite with several solo albums to her credit and most recently a vocalist with Gnarls Barkley's live band.
When the duo saw the video's whopping YouTube numbers, they thought it was a mistake, as their views had increased steadily - but gradually - since the clip's posting. "We had no idea this was coming," said Palmer. "It's actually a very Bubbles & Cheesecake thing that it happened this way."
Even more unexpected, the video - an exuberant backyard soul groove celebrating self-empowerment - has incited an online gender war among YouTube users, drawing intensely heated posts - both anti-female and anti-male - from commentators of both sexes.
"This was written purely as a pop soul song; not at all political," says Willis. "It does talk about how sometimes women have trouble standing up for themselves, but it's really about self-esteem for everyone - about having enough of a sense of yourself to claim what's right for you."
Palmer commented, "I was very surprised at the anger out there directed at a couple of people having fun. In a way, it goes right to the heart of what we're talking about with Bubbles & Cheesecake - everybody has the right to their own voice, no matter what resistance it meets." Willis added, "It's no wonder many women are afraid to express themselves, given some of the comments we've seen."
"It's crazy being in the middle of an unintended controversy," Willis concludes, "but the greatest thing our art can do is spotlight something that's not working in the culture, and point to things that are more positive. It's a hard position for us to be in, because all you want to do is make art. But we also feel we must be doing significant work if we've hit such a nerve with this song."
