The POP-EXPOSE ‘Martika’s Toy Soldier’ by Mitchell Smith!
Back in 1989 one of my favorite songs was Toy Soldier by Martika. In the rise of the POP era the song was very catchy and didn’t mean a whole lot to a 15 year old sitting on the bus waiting to head to the amusement park. The song was catchy and did hit #1 for a couple weeks. In 2004 Eminem used some of Martika’s song in his own song Like Toy Soldiers. The song itself was more then just a catchy pop tune written by some person in the basement of their grandmothers house.
Martika composed the song about one of her friend’s drug addiction. The song talks about the emotional detachment and downward spiral of drug addiction. Martika sang all the main lines but some of her former cast mates from Disney’s Kid’s Incorporated sang the chorus. Some of the back up singers who went on to have successful careers include Fergie from the black Eyed Peas, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Eminem’s incorporation of Toy Soldier into his song Like Toy Soldiers, which was about the gun and gang violence he faced at the time, was used much like the original version, but to show the downward spiral of the violence the rap world was facing at the time. This was just one of those songs that is seen as a pop song, but the meaning runs deep and the personal reflection and power of the song shot it to #1 and even though this does not get a lot of air time these days it remains one of my favorite songs.
Do you enjoy Martika? Let us know AFTER THE JUMP!
