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
(2002) (2003)

Secret Diary is the debut studio album by American mashup artist Girl Talk, released on November 13, 2002. 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.

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. 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.

Title and cover

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.

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." A Sputnikmusic staff review was negative, with writer DaveyBoy grading the album 1.0/5. His review summary read: "A headache inducing glitch that should have remained a secret. Genuinely unlistenable to at times."

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. 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."

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"

• 0:00 — 2 Unlimited – "Get Ready for This"
• 0:45 — Alice Deejay – "Better Off Alone"
• 0:47 — 2 Unlimited – "Twilight Zone"
• 0:48 — Reel 2 Real featuring The Mad Stuntman – "I Like to Move It"
• 1:10 — Jagged Edge featuring Nelly – "Where the Party At"
• 1:18 — Vengaboys – "We Like to Party!"
• 1:26 — Baha Men – "Who Let the Dogs Out"
• 1:33 — 2Pac featuring Snoop Dogg – "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted"
• 1:33 — Cher – "Believe"
• 1:48 — Haddaway – "What Is Love"
• 2:01 — C+C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams and Zelma Davis – "Here We Go (Let's Rock & Roll)"

"I Want You Back"

• 0:00 — Derek B – "Get Down"
• 0:04 — The Jackson 5 – "I Want You Back"
• 0:24 — Lil' Romeo – "My Baby"
• 0:26 — Jay-Z – "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"
• 0:30 — Kris Kross – "Jump"

"Ffun Haave To"

• 0:06 — Cyndi Lauper – "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"

"What If..."

• 0:00 — Joan Osborne – "One of Us"
• 0:16 — Cash Money Millionaires – "Project Bitch"

"Unicorn vs. Gravity"

• 0:00 — Sheila Cole – "The Price Is Right Theme"
• 0:01 — Jay-Z – "Jigga My N*gga"

"The Right Stuff"

• 0:00 — Master P featuring Fiend, Silkk the Shocker, Mia X, and Mystikal – "Make 'Em Say Uhh!"
• 0:26 — New Kids on the Block – "You Got It (The Right Stuff)"

"Fun in the Sun"

• 0:00 — Shaggy featuring Rayvon – "In the Summertime"
• 0:02 — DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – "Summertime"
• 0:07 — Big Brother and the Holding Company – "Summertime"
• 0:07 — Sublime – "Doin' Time"
• 0:13 — Alice Cooper – "School's Out"

"Jumpin(g)"

• 0:00 — Destiny's Child – "Jumpin', Jumpin'"

"Friends 4-Ever"

• 0:00 — Papa Roach – "Last Resort"
• 1:13 — Limp Bizkit – "Break Stuff"
• 1:15 — Korn – "Freak on a Leash"
• 1:15 — Limp Bizkit – "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)"
• 1:39 — Limp Bizkit – "Nookie"
• 2:13 — Korn – "A.D.I.D.A.S."

Release history

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

Personnel

• Gregg Gillis – music
• Matt Wellins – music (featured artist)
• Andrew Strasser – artwork

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". This was apparently changed by Girl Talk himself to avoid offending his parents.

External links

• Secret Diary on Wikipedia
• Secret Diary on Illegal Tracklist
• Secret Diary on the Illegal Art website

Girl Talk albums and singles Discography
Studio albums
Secret Diary (2002)	Unstoppable (2003)	Night Ripper (2006)	Feed the Animals (2008)	All Day (2010)
Extended plays
Stop Cleveland Hate (2004)	Bone Hard Zaggin' (2006)	Broken Ankles (2014)
Singles
"Believe in Magic" (2011)	"Tolerated" (2014)	"Trouble in Paradise" (2018)	"No Problem" (2019)	"Toolie" (2020)
"Santos Party House" (2020)	"Fallin'" (2020)