Music / Superchic[k]

Following

The group has released four studio albums, and two remix albums, over the course of nine years. They disbanded while working on album number seven, which has been modified to be their final effort, with a release date of October 2013.

Notable Members Include:

• Max Hsu (DJ, Keyboards)
• Tricia Baumhardt (née Brock) (Lead Vocals)
• Matt Dally (Bass, Vocals)
• Dave Ghazarian (Guitar, Keyboards)
• Melissa Brock (Rhythm Guitar, Harmony Vocals)
• Brandon Estelle (Drums)
• Chase Lovelace (Drums)

• Karaoke Superstars (2001)
• Last One Picked (2002)
• Regeneration (2003)
• Beauty from Pain (2005)
  • Beauty from Pain 1.1 (2006)
• Rock What You Got (2008)
• Reinvention (2010)
• Recollection (2013)

Superchick provide examples of the following tropes:

• Amazon Brigade: "So Beautiful".
  "When every girl can see her beauty we will be an army."
• Audience Participation Song: "Hey Hey".
• Author Catchphrase: After the song of the same name on their debut album, "One Girl Revolution" (or some variant of) tends to pop up once an album.
  "Some days it's hard to be a one girl revolution." - One and Lonely from Last One Picked
  "I'm gonna make a one girl stand." - Me Against the World from Regeneration
  "Revolutions start when someone crosses the line." - Cross the Line from Rock What You Got
• Buffy Speak: "Breathe" uses the line "each breath breathed..." on more than one occasion.
• Captain Obvious: "Bowling Ball".
  "You need that boy like a bowling ball dropped on your head. Which means not at all."
• Casanova Wannabe: Matt's lines in "Wonder (If She'll Get It)" come off like this.
  "What's up, my name is Matt. I lost my phone number. Can I have yours?"
• Cerebus Syndrome: While not too drastic, the first two albums were still a bit more cheerful than the later ones.
• Christian Rock: Some of their songs have references to God (such as "Beauty from Pain"), but they're otherwise not overt about religion.
• Concept Album: Last One Picked is about not fitting in during high school.
• Continuity Nod: Aside from Author Catchphrase above, "Hope" also contains one.
  "I learned to stand in the rain."
• Deceptively Silly Title: Their remixes usually have humorous names like "Dropped Chevy Mix," "Space Monkey Lab Mix," "Red Pill Mix," "Box Office Blockbuster Mix," "Vampires Vs Cheerleaders Mix" and "Teens Falling In/Out Of Love Mix." They, more often than not, have almost nothing to do with the actual song.
• Determinator:
  • "One More" is about not giving up despite the odds.
    It feels like I have lost this fight
    They think that I am staying down
    But I'm not giving up tonight
    Tonight the wall is coming down
    I am stronger than my fears
    This is the mountain that I climb
    Got 100 steps to go
    Tonight I'll make it 99
  • "Stand in the Rain" is a more specific example, being about a girl who struggles with inner pain and has to "stand in the rain" to make it through her problems.
    So stand in the rain
    Stand your ground
    Stand up when it's all crashing down
    You stand through the pain
    You won't drown
    And one day, what's lost can be found
    You stand in the rain
• Fake Guest Star: Oddly Reinvention features three band members getting their own, separate credits. Matt and Tricia are billed as main artists on "Let it Roll" and "With You", with the former going as far as to being credited as "Matt Dally featuring Superchick". The "Karaoke Superstars" remix is also credited as "Superchick featuring ThumpMonks". ThumpMonks being Max's other project.
• Genre Shift: Tricia's solo music sounds nothing like what she performed with the band. Fans were surprised that The Road was actually a worship album, and while Radiate does have a similar writing style to Superchick, it is a 100% pop album.
• Greatest Hits Album: Their seventh album was repurposed into this after only five tracks were completed.
• Ground-Shattering Landing: The entire band uses Wire Fu jumps in the "Cross the Line" video, but Tricia is the only one who actually lands this way.
• High-School Dance: The premise of the "Barlow Girls" music video.
• I Am What I Am: "Real". Name dropped in the opening line no less.
• Like Parent, Like Spouse: "Barlow Girls".
  "All the boys in the band want a Valentine from a Barlow girl. The boys think they're the bomb. 'Cause they remind them of their mom."
• Love Before First Sight: "Wonder (If She'll Get It)" is about a girl who constantly falls for this trope.
• Love Martyr: "Bowling Ball" is about a girl who stays in an abusive relationship with a guy out of the futile hope he'll eventually change.
• Musical Pastiche: "Hey Hey" is done in the style of Marilyn Manson (yes, really), down to imitating the riff from "The Beautiful People" and the cheerleader chant from "mOBSCENE." ^note  In Turn of the Millennium evangelical culture, Manson's commercial success was taken as emblematic of the marginalization of Christians in American society, so a pastiche song about nonconformity performed in his style is an obvious Take That! both against Manson and American culture as a whole.
• Non-Appearing Title: "Courage". Partial example for "Wonder (If She'll Get It)".
• The Not-Remix: The Beauty from Pain 1.1 versions of "We Live" and "Anthem" differ slightly from the originals. "Stories (Down to the Bottom)" also has two different mixes. The Superchick mix on Beauty from Pain, and the Toby Mac mix on his album Welcome to Diverse City.
• The One That Got Away: "Wishes" is about the singer wishing she could move on from a relationship that didn't work out.
  I wish we could have worked it out
  I wish I didn't have these doubts
  I wish I didn't have to wonder just what you are doing now
  I wish I didn't know inside
  That it won't work out for you and I
  I wish that I could stop this wishing and just say my last goodbye
• One-Woman Song: "Song 4 Tricia (Princes and Frogs)".
• Pep-Talk Song: Half of the songs in their library.
• Rearrange the Song: Regeneration took songs from their first two albums and made them Darker and Edgier.
• Re-release the Song: "One Girl Revolution (Battle Mix)" was put on the re-release of Beauty from Pain after debuting on the previous album.
• Rock-Star Song: Inverted with "Karaoke Superstars" and "Rock Stars".
• Singer Namedrop: "One Girl Revolution". Also used in the intro for "Karaoke Superstars".
  "If all you see is how I look, you miss the Superchick within."
• Soprano and Gravel: "We Live".
• Stay in the Kitchen: "Me Against the World".
  "They said don't try to change the world. You're just a girl."
• Step Up to the Microphone: "Princes and Frogs" is obviously not sung by Tricia.
• Studio Chatter: "Song 4 Tricia (Princes and Frogs)" and "Dave Ghazarian: Guitar Hero".
• Textless Album Cover: Karaoke Superstars.
• Title Track: "Karaoke Superstars", "Beauty From Pain" and "Rock What You Got".
• Unlikely Hero: "Hero".
• What Does She See in Him?: "Bowling Ball" addresses a girl whose boyfriend is a clearly undeserving Jerkass, telling her that he's a lost cause and she can do better than him.
  You need that boy like a bowling ball
  Dropped on your head
  Which means not at all
  You have too much to give, to live
  To waste your time on him
• A Wild Rapper Appears!: Most of Matt's vocals. However, Tricia gets to do it on "Sunshine".
• Wondrous Ladies Room: Averted in the "Barlow Girls" music video. Although the (male) guitarist doesn't seem to mind it in there.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: "Song 4 Tricia (Princes and Frogs)".
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: "Super Trouper" is about urging a friend to stop settling for the easy things in life and stop being afraid to take risks, and start living up to his or her potential.