Girl Talk Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Secret Diary
Secret Diary
Studio album by Girl Talk
Released November 13, 2002
Genre Mashup, glitch, electronic, dance
Length 39:46
Label Illegal Art
Format CD, LP, digital download
Producer Girl Talk
Girl Talk chronology
Secret Diary Unstoppable
(2002) (2003)

Secret Diary is the debut studio album by American mashup artist Girl Talk, released on November 13, 2002.[1] Like the majority of Girl Talk's output, it makes heavy use of sampling from other popular music. Just as apparent is the heavy use of glitch music styles on the album, which he would later minimize or abandon entirely on future albums. Secret Diary established Girl Talk's reputation within the electronic noise music community.[2]

Release[]

Secret Diary was Girl Talk's first album to be released on the independent record label Illegal Art, where almost all of his records have since been released. The album was released in CD and digital format on November 13, 2002. On January 5, 2010, Illegal Art made the album available for purchase on their website using a "pay what you want" pricing system.[3] To commemorate its 10th anniversary on November 13, 2012, Illegal Art pressed a picture disc 12" vinyl edition of Secret Diary limited to 500 copies.[4]

Title and cover[]

Girl Talk board game

Girl Talk box art

The Secret Diary album cover is a recolorized version of the box art for the truth-or-dare board game Girl Talk, which serves as a reference to Girl Talk himself.

The title of the album itself is a reference to a special edition of the game entitled Secret Diary, released in 1991.[5]

Critical reception[]

Stephen Cramer of AllMusic rated Secret Diary 3 stars out of 5, calling the album a "dizzying, yet listenable, collection of collage songs" and "refreshingly new, despite its use of very familiar songs."[2] A Sputnikmusic staff review was negative, with writer DaveyBoy grading the album 1.0/5.[6] His review summary read: "A headache inducing glitch that should have remained a secret. Genuinely unlistenable to at times."[6]

In an interview with Girl Talk, Mark Richardson of Pitchfork retrospectively described Secret Diary and its follow-up Unstoppable as "far noisier and much more abstract" than his later releases.[7] Pop Bunker wrote that Secret Diary has "more in common with the glitch/electro sound of Kid606 and Aphex Twin than the DJ-friendly pop styles Girl Talk exhibits today."[4]

Track listing[]

  1. "Let's Start This Party Right" – 2:26
  2. "I Want You Back" – 3:27
  3. "Ffun Haave To" – 5:12
  4. "What If..." – 4:22
  5. "Time to Get Glamorous" – 4:51
  6. "Unicorn vs. Gravity" – 2:16
  7. "The Right Stuff" – 5:48
  8. "Fun in the Sun" – 3:44
  9. "Jumpin(g)" – 3:23
  10. "Friends 4-Ever" (featuring Matt Wellins) – 4:14

Samples[]

"Let's Start This Party Right"[]

"I Want You Back"[]

"Ffun Haave To"[]

"What If..."[]

"Unicorn vs. Gravity"[]

"The Right Stuff"[]

"Fun in the Sun"[]

"Jumpin(g)"[]

"Friends 4-Ever"[]

Release history[]

Images Release date Format Label Catalog no. Ref.(s)
November 15, 2002 Compact disc Illegal Art IA107 [8]
Secret Diary November 15, 2002 Digital download Illegal Art N/A [9]
Secret Diary January 5, 2010 Digital download (reissue) Illegal Art N/A [3]
November 13, 2012 12" vinyl
(reissue; 10th anniversary)
Illegal Art ILL107LP [1][4][10][11]

Personnel[]

Trivia[]

  • Track two, "I Want You Back", samples "I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5 and various other songs based around samples of that song.
  • Track four, "What If...", was apparently originally intended to be titled "What If God Was a Project Bitch".[8] This was apparently changed by Girl Talk himself to avoid offending his parents.[8]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Secret Diary. Illegal Art. Retrieved on 2014-01-25.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Cramer, Stephen. Secret Diary – Girl Talk. AllMusic. Retrieved on 2014-01-25.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Breihan, Tom (2009-12-07). Girl Talk Reissues: Benefit and Pay-What-You-Want. Pitchfork. Retrieved on 2014-01-25.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Girl Talk / Secret Diary Picture Disc. Midheaven Mailorder. Retrieved on 2014-01-26.
  5. Girl Talk Secret Diary (1991). BoardGameGeek. Retrieved on 2014-01-26.
  6. 6.0 6.1 DaveyBoy (2009-07-07). Review: Girl Talk – Secret Diary. Sputnikmusic. Retrieved on 2014-01-25.
  7. Richardson, Mark (2008-10-06). Interviews: Girl Talk. Pitchfork. Retrieved on 2014-01-26.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Girl Talk ‎– Secret Diary (CD, Album). Discogs. Retrieved on 2014-01-25.
  9. Secret Diary. Illegal Art. Retrieved on 2014-01-25.
  10. Secret Diary Picture Vinyl. Gumroad. Retrieved on 2014-01-25.
  11. Secret Diary (reissue). Juno Records. Retrieved on 2014-01-25.

External links[]


Girl Talk albums and singles
Discography
Studio albums
Secret Diary Unstoppable Night Ripper Feed the Animals All Day
Secret Diary
(2002)
Unstoppable
(2003)
Night Ripper
(2006)
Feed the Animals
(2008)
All Day
(2010)
Extended plays
Stop Cleveland Hate Bone Hard Zaggin Broken Ankles
Stop Cleveland Hate
(2004)
Bone Hard Zaggin'
(2006)
Broken Ankles
(2014)
Singles
Believe in Magic Placeholder other Placeholder other Placeholder other Placeholder other
"Believe in Magic"
(2011)
"Tolerated"
(2014)
"Trouble in Paradise"
(2018)
"No Problem"
(2019)
"Toolie"
(2020)
Placeholder other Placeholder other
"Santos Party House"
(2020)
"Fallin'"
(2020)
Girl Talk songs
Discography
Secret Diary "Let's Start This Party Right" • "I Want You Back" • "Ffun Haave To" • "What If..." • "Time to Get Glamorous" • "Unicorn vs. Gravity" • "The Right Stuff" • "Fun in the Sun" • "Jumpin(g)" • "Friends 4-Ever"
Unstoppable "All Eyes on Me" • "Non-Stop Party Now" • "Touch 2 Feel" • "Pump It Up" • "Bang This in the Club" • "Bodies Hit the Floor" • "The Feeling" • "Happen" • "Cleveland, Shake" • "Keeping the Beat" • "Step to It" • "Can't Stop"
Night Ripper "Once Again" • "That's My DJ" • "Hold Up" • "Too Deep" • "Smash Your Head" • "Minute by Minute" • "Ask About Me" • "Summer Smoke" • "Friday Night" • "Hand Clap" • "Give and Go" • "Bounce That" • "Warm It Up" • "Double Pump" • "Overtime" • "Peak Out"
Bone Hard Zaggin' "Pure Magic" • "LC and Lo"
Feed the Animals "Play Your Part (Pt. 1)" • "Shut the Club Down" • "Still Here" • "What It's All About" • "Set It Off" • "No Pause" • "Like This" • "Give Me a Beat" • "Hands in the Air" • "In Step" • "Let Me See You" • "Here's the Thing" • "Don't Stop" • "Play Your Part (Pt. 2)"
All Day "Oh No" • "Let It Out" • "That's Right" • "Jump on Stage" • "This Is the Remix" • "On and On" • "Get It Get It" • "Down for the Count" • "Make Me Wanna" • "Steady Shock" • "Triple Double" • "Every Day"
Broken Ankles "Broken Ankles Intro" • "Tolerated" • "Tell Me Yeah" • "I Can Hear Sweat" • "Suicide" • "Lived It"
Other songs "Killing a Material Girl" • "Blue and Green and Brown Ousado" • "Let's Run This" • "On Nesbit" • "Andy van Slyke Marijuana Sensitivity" • "Believe in Magic" • "Oh Baby" • "Trouble in Paradise" • "No Problem" • "Outta Pocket" • "Toolie" • "Santos Party House" • "Fallin'"
Remixes "Cellphone's Dead" • "Let's Call It Off" • "Knife" • "Gasolina" • "Non-Tradition Ball Head"
Other productions "Cool as Hell" • "Addiction" • "Always Love You" • "First Thing's First" • "Steam Room" • "Lil Bitch" • "The Hook Up" • "Getcha Roll On" • "Bubble" • "Cinderella Story" • "Boats & Hoes"
Advertisement