All Shook Up

Ten years ago, Jill Sobule's song "I Kissed a Girl" broke barriers by tackling the societal taboo of two women's desire to lock lips. She transformed the act into something empowering and more palatable to them if they felt so inclined. Something that was previously only seen on the Playboy Channel was now OK to even consider. And these days, who hasn't?

Yes, Sobule certainly likes shaking things up. Even the title of her latest release, Underdog Victorious, illustrates her brand of impudence. The track "Under The Disco Ball" describes the fear a male Christian teenager feels while jerking off to the "fall issue of GQ," should his abusive father find out. She discusses how partying led down a dark, drug-abusing road for her friend on the "Saturday In the Park"-esque "Cinnamon Park."

Even more recently, her projects have been socially oriented. "I'm kind of a political troubadour," she says. "I was working on a theme song for savetheinternet.com, a website about political neutrality. I'm the one that people go to for free songs when they know I'm sort of interested. We were working on a very tongue-in-cheek song for Net neutrality-something both the left and right will agree with-like, not letting providers such as AT&T or ComCast choose what content you're able to read."

These days, as a female singer/songwriter, Sobule finds hers a difficult market. "It's super-hard for a lot of artists right now. There's really good stuff, and some of the stuff makes it to the top, and some of it doesn't. Alot of it is underappreciated. Now it's the trend as a female to be a teenage tabloid personality and have a TV show before you even put a record, like Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff. There's such a strange reality-pop star culture now. People are like, 'That poor girl only had one hit once.' But how many artists would like to have done even that? I still feel lucky to be doing it. Who sells records these days anyway? I've certainly been able to have a career!"

She's happy to be returning to New York City now that she calls Los Angeles home. "I miss the culture and walking everywhere," she reminisces.

June 27. Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette St. (betw. Astor Pl. & E. 4th St.), 212-539-8770; 7:30, $18.