REMEMBER LEIGHTON MEESTER?

I was watching How I Met Your Father the other night. It’s not a great show, but I love the original. I’ve told myself I’m going to at least watch this first season because of my love for the original.

​In the most recent episode Leighton Meester guest stars. Now, if you’re not a millennial woman there’s a chance you don’t know who this is. Leighton Meester played Blair Waldorf in the teen soap opera Gossip Girl. And I thought, wow I haven’t seen or even thought about her in forever.

Then, a song started creeping up in the back of my mind. It started out as a mere whisper “good girls go bad….” It slowly built from there. “Good girls go bad….” Until there was a New York City night club in my head. “I MAKE THEM GOOD GIRLS GO BAD! I MAKE THEM GOOD GIRLS GO BAD! GOOD GIRLS GO--” I looked to my left. My fist pumping uncontrollably like I’m on Jersey Shore. 

Cobra Starship, the band behind the 2009 smash hit “Good Girls Go Bad” is a fascinating topic by themselves. I vaguely remember an interview where the lead singer talked about his favorite pair of skinny jeans (or maybe they were leather pants?) for a lot of the interview. And the fact that they weren’t just a blip on the radar with one song. They followed up the huge success of “Good Girls Go Bad” with “… You Make Me Feel” in 2011. And who could forget “Snakes on a Plane (Bring It)? If you’re unfamiliar with the song, check it out here. You know what? That’s all I really have to say about Cobra Starship and will save all of you from a separate post on them.

​But what really fascinates me about this song—the reason I bring it up to you today—is that Leighton Meester, at the height of her relevancy in 2009, was featured on this song. I mean, it wasn’t the first song she had released (weirdly releasing a cover of “Baby (Please Come Home) on January 1, 2009, as well as a song with Robin Thicke), and it wasn’t the last song she released (most recently a full album entitled Heartstrings in 2014). But holy crap, this was the blueprint of what now seems to be common for TikTok stars to take advantage of their relevancy and release a song. The only difference? This seems more genuine and “Good Girls Go Bad,” though not my taste, isn’t that bad of a song compared to some of the trash released today. It was objectively a banger for the time. The song was everywhere. Leighton Meester was truly ahead of her time.