Gnesa and Effin' the Ineffable

Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.

Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987)




You may've seen this, it's been getting around (and over 2 million hits on YouTube). Many have already chimed in with snarky reports. I'm not going to do that. In a generation ruled by AutoTune, Gnesa isn't afraid to go raw. She could've easily scrubbed up her vocals––which here can get as pitchy and flat as a clay pigeon––but she didn't. Behind the make-over and lycra clubwear Gnesa keeps it real (more or less). Even more interesting is the fact that she's not even a singer, really. Her verses more resemble a kind of (nearly) tonal-talking. Her dance skills are slightly more rudimentary than your average exotic dancer but, like Mick Jagger, the raw style may be her signature. There is something curious––ineffable even––about her skill set that makes her oddly compelling. You want to know her story. What drives her? Is it impervious self-confidence, the power of uncrushable dreams? Or, is it all just irony on a fireman's ladder plus stilts? Is her talent so ineffable that most us will never know it or is she just an innocent, a kind of Ed Wood of vanity pop music?

Check the video on YouTube and note the absence of snarky or negative comments. Not a ONE. Of the video Popcrush.com said, "[it] simply consists of Gnesa attempting to give Snooki a run for her money... give Gnesa an A for effort and an epic fail for, well, everything else." Weknowmemes.com said she is "9000 times worse than Rebecca Black." Come on now, that's not fair (except the maybe the Snooki comparison). The fact that her song and video got made at all, as well as Rebecca Black's, is in itself a success. How many never even make that plateau? How many finer wines are there in the world turning vinegar because their holders are too afraid to try? Not Gnesa.

Gnesa FTW.