J.D. Natasha recorded one of the most powerful vocal performances of 2004. It describes the final moments of a romance gone bad, mixing a description of pain with an affirming yowl of fierce independence. Its title was simply "Plastico," after the chorus where she screams out a reminder that she's not just somebody's Barbie doll. The song rocks, and its fast, rising chords lent a fierce edge to its message of self-respect. To this day, it remains one of my personal favorite songs.

J.D. Natasha was just 16 years old when she recorded "Plastico". (Ironically, the album was released with a warning that it contained explicit lyrics, presumably to warn parents that it wasn't safe for their 16-year-olds!) She'd been discovered and recognized as a powerful and talented singer, and "Plastico" was one of the tracks on her debut CD. It was sung entirely in Spanish, though the album contained songs in English, and it should've propelled the young singer to international success. Instead her first album became her last album, and "Plastico" stands as a stark wail at the start of a career that never was.

Women in pop music are often pigeonholed as sex objects, required to vamp around being coy and cute. But instead of doing that, J.D. laid down some smack. When she wails that she's not a Barbie doll, she could be talking to more than the song's imaginary lover. And she doesn't just sing. In the music video, she's seen strumming a driving guitar rhythm with her band, raging with emotion while performing under an overpass.

The song opens with the sound of a fast busy signal, competing with an intense acoustic guitar riff that ascends through the song's complicated chords. After just five seconds, the bass and drums jump in, and J.D. moans out the song's premise in just two short verses (translated here from the original Spanish).

"I wake and turn off the alarm at 7:30.
I call you. You don't answer. So much anger..."

They're short verses, which only adds to the intensity of the quick, rising chords, as J.D.'s voice rises an octave and quickens for the next set of lines.

"I hope for you, I don't see you, it's driving me crazy.
You abandon me, you lie to me, I love you."

But if anything, she's delivering an anti-love song, since the whole point of the song is to arrive at its chorus, where J.D. suddenly belts out a defiant declaration of independence.

"No, no, no, no more with these games!
I am not a Barbie made of plastic!
I have a soul!
I have a soul!"

The black and white music video used an usual effect to dramatize the emotion of the moment. Each time J.D. sang the chorus, some messy colors swarmed around her body. At the end of the video, the purpose of the colors was revealed. They'd formed a heart that's been stabbed with a dagger - and J.D.'s shirt was suddenly bright red.

The music industry is a cynical place, and J.D. Natasha could be better off taking her talent somewhere else. I want to believe that maybe her career never launched because she decided she didn't want to be a pop star. It's a world of phoneys making strange and occasionally sexist demands on young female singers, and many of them seem to come of the experience both messed up and miserable. It's just possible that when the promoters came around to ask J.D. to take the next step, she'd already recorded her response to them.

"No, no, no, no, more with these games! I am not a Barbie made of plastic!"

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
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