JLS–Beat Again

Released 12 July 2009.
Billboard: NA
UK: #1.

If I review this as a reality-show-winners’ (though they actually got 2nd place) single, this on first glance looks excellent. This song is has a pretty workable R&Bish, danceable sound to it, and is probably quite a bit more memorable than almost every other reality-show-winners’ or second place singles that I can remember (off the top of my head, I can only remember Kelly Clarkson’s A Moment Like This, and… Bleeding Love, though that was actually Leona Lewis’ second single, after she covered A Moment Like This, and also partly because of Eurovision, Tom Dice’s Me And My Guitar which is also his second single after HE covered Bleeding Love!). The blue-red-green-yellow backing theme on the CD cover looks pretty nice too.

In terms of sound, the song’s a pretty harmless piece and actually quite nice to listen to; it’s not bad for casual listening. The little electro effects e.g. tune out at beginning of 2nd verse are decent, and the chorus is pretty catchy too. The bridge sounds pretty good and the ending part is nice too – all in all, it’s a reasonably refined, if standard kind of work.

However, this is not a sing I can sing at all, much like BedRock – though unlike BedRock, which I can’t sing because I would utterly laugh while failing to sing Call me Mr. Flintstone, I can make your bed rock, this one is more an issue of disgust than humour.

Damn
The doctor’s just finished telling me there’s no time
Losing you could be the end of me, and that I
Should do the things that I wanna do, how could I
Without you without you ooh ooh

In terms of cheese, this one destroys Replay completely, I think – the idea of death should one’s lover leave one is quite a bad one, I think. It seems that the persona in the song shows elements of calculated emotional blackmail too… Let’s look at the chorus.

Let’s just get back together, we should’ve never broke up
They’re telling me that my heart wont beat again
We should have stayed together, cause when you left me it stopped
They’re telling me that my heart wont beat again
Won’t beat again
Its killing me…

This is where the problem of mixing the idea of the heart as a muscle supporting the body’s functions, and as a centre of emotions and feelings comes in. If your heart stopped when she left you, she couldn’t have left you for very long, and besides it’d be nigh impossible to sing a 3:21 (or so) song. I wouldn’t really complain about this normally – the idea of having one’s heart stop can figuratively mean a shock of some sort, but the use of the doctor at the beginning of verse 1 makes it a problem, the mention of “love CPR” in the bridge, and most scarily, the sheer spookiness of verse 2:

If I died, yeah would you come to my funeral?
Would you cry?
Would you feel some regret that we didn’t try?
Or would you fall apart the same as I
And would it always haunt you baby that you missed your chance to save me?
Cos you know its not too late
(Hey hey heeeeeey)

Ouch. It’s downright disturbing.

OVERALL SCORE = 5.5 / 10
For a reality-talent-show group, I cannot deny that JLS has put forth a musically strong first effort with Beat Again. I find the song reasonably well constructed and catchy; it’s pleasing as a casual listen, but the incredibly questionable lyrics knock this one down a point or two.

Far East Movement–Like a G6

Released April 13, 2010.
Billboard: #1
UK Charts: #6

Listening to this song, I can’t help feeling that it seems like a bit of a mess, reminiscent of Boom Boom Pow in that the song seems to open a lot of possible things, and then do little with them. Unfortunately, in terms of the beat, it feels random and… going nowhere. It could make for a pretty tough DDR song, precisely because of this reason, honestly.

Okay, perhaps we should find out what is a G6. There seems to be evidence that G6 refers to the Gulfstream G650, or at least it’s reasonably implied. Though the artists’ explanation for this seems a little bit muddled – or perhaps they’re assuming the listener has familiarity with the aircraft in question, when they say: “But Drake, Drake talks about having G4 pilots on deck, so we said, ‘What’s flyer than a G4?’ Of course, it would be a G6.” Partly because there is no official name for the term G6, as Gulfstream released up to the G-V before switching to these 3-digit numbers; so a G6 or G-VI doesn’t exist per se, technically speaking.

Thus if we accept that the G6 is referring to the Gulfstream G650, relating it to feeling “fly” well, I guess makes sense. The chorus doesn’t not make sense, though it seems a celebration of “the indulgent lifestyle of jetsetters”, or of irresponsible behaviour, depending on your perspective.

Poppin bottles in the ice, like a blizzard
When we drink we do it right gettin slizzard – as in very drunk
Sippin sizzurp in my ride, like Three 6

My, my, my. Alcohol intoxication, drug consumption, AND drink driving? A lethal combination indeed.

The verses don’t seem to go anywhere to me, too. I’m really left confused at the end, wondering what exactly they were trying to accomplish with this (of course, in the sense of an artistic message much like how Just The Way You Are is basically a love song to a girl, Ridin’ Solo is a celebration of being single, Heartless is a breakup song, etc.; not in terms of $$$). Even simple songs about partying, as far as I can remember, such as Good Times (Roll Deep ft. Jodie Connor) or I Gotta Feeling didn’t leave me with such headaches.

OVERALL SCORE = 2.0/10
At the end of Like A G6, I am still utterly confused about what the song is trying to do, other than reap profits for the Far East Movement, Cataracs and Dev. The beat gets pretty annoying after a while, too…

Jason Derulo–Blind

Not released as a single… The album Jason Derülo was released March 2, 2010.

Derulo has released five songs from his album as singles already – Whatcha Say, In My Head, Ridin’ Solo, What If and The Sky’s The Limit. Given that his self-titled debut album only has 9 songs, it seems like quite a bit (though nothing compared to what Kanye West is doing with My Beautiful Twisted Dark Fantasy, or Dark Twisted Fantasy, I can’t remember). Other than What If, the rest of the singles have been pretty energetic, danceable affairs that honestly, though unimpressive, have been more than serviceable – though as some listeners have expressed, they’re probably technologically advanced affairs, especially Ridin’ Solo. Well, the use of autotune… it’s there, and I don’t really see why people should complain about it; I can understand the viewpoint that it requires less skill, but given that in most cases autotune can be identified as being used, I don’t see much grounds for removing it at all. Even if autotune became sophisticated enough to be nearly unidentifiable, I wouldn’t outright reject it too, because as a listener I’m mainly concerned with how a song sounds… And furthermore, vocal tuning requires skill on the part of the sound engineers too.

This one’s one of the slower tracks on the album, and compared to the other ballad on the album, What If, I prefer this one – though it may be a natural bias towards songs with a more “down” message. His vocals are somewhat whiny, but I guess it’s appropriate given the content, and the song seems pretty addictive nonetheless. The production and use of piano are good, the melody is nice, and the autotune is used reasonably smoothly. I like the bridge in this one, too… And the last time he does You’ve made a fool of me~eeeee~ it sounds pretty good too.

Content-wise, this is pretty much a generic heartbreak / break-up kind of song. The lyrics at points are nice, though… Okay…I have little complaints about this, really. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s solid and well produced, and as far as I’m concerned better than all the singles he’s released other than The Sky’s The Limit, probably. The way things are going, though, I don’t know if he’s going to release all 9 songs on his album as singles!

OVERALL SCORE = 6.5 / 10
Blind is a reasonably catchy and solid song about heartbreak that… wasn’t, or at least has not yet been released from Jason Derulo’s debut self-titled album.

B.o.B ft. Hayley Williams–Airplanes

Released April 3, 2010 (US) and August 9, 2010 (UK)
Billboard: #2.
UK Charts: #1.

Based on some of my previous posts, it’s probably no secret that I do thoroughly like this song. Honestly, it’s somewhat difficult to explain the reasons behind my liking of it; I enjoyed it the first time I heard the song, was somewhat intrigued by the title (Airplanes? What would you sing about airplanes, of all things?) and despite hearing it played many, many times over the radio, it hasn’t really grown old on me.

Musically, comparing this song to Nothin’ on You, B.o.B’s first single from his debut album, it seems just a little bit weaker, honestly, though that’s largely due to Bruno Mars’ excellent voice. Hayley Williams is pretty good, but the fact that she only sings a few lines that are repeated several times fails to make the ‘pop’ part of this song stand out. Then again, viewing this as just another pop-rap song and placing expectations on it might not be so appropriate too – at least, it’s not as generic as Nothin’ on You was. In terms of rapping voice B.o.B seems slightly better here than on Nothin’ on You, though probably because he sounded a little bit out of place at times when doing the “n-n-n-nothin’ on you baby” parts in the chorus.

I gave Nothin’ on You a 7.5 rating, however this one will go beyond that, because of the quality of lyrical depth. Up to this point, however, if you look at the songs I’ve rated highly (other than Nothin’ on You), we do have We Dance On, What’s My Name? and So Sick – and if you take a little look at the reviews concerned, these songs do bear some intelligent quality about them, whether it be the skillful use of a Pachelbel Canon sample to put forth a positive, if slightly trite message, a witty comment about the square root of 69, or a song that emphasises the pain of the singer because he is singing it in the first place. Airplanes seems to carry a decent level of openness to interpretation which allows some thought, without the extreme open-ended-ness of some songs

So now we talk about lyrics, let’s go in and have a little look.

(Hook) Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?
I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now… (x2)

Okay, there’s a superstition held by some people that wishes made on shooting stars (meteorites falling to Earth, or other foreign debris passing by) will come true. Pretty clearly, “wish right now” implies some sense of urgency, and thus the speaker cannot wait for the shooting stars. However, one wonders if they’re really as rare as they seem, as they can be calculated upon too, with notable meteor showers such as the Perseids and Leonids allowing people to catch quite a few of them… Then again, maybe this emphasises the right now bit; they can’t even wait for so long. In a modernised context, airplanes would probably be flying every night, so to see the airplanes in the night sky, you’d only have to wait for, well, night. (Unless there’s a sandstorm, very bad weather, etc…)

The airplanes in question are vehicles for hopes and dreams – given that they want to pretend that they have the capacity to be wished upon. I can’t quite put my finger on it, though… It does seem a little bit unusual; surely the airplanes bear some symbolic meaning beyond just being vehicles? Speaking of which, B.o.B seems to associate his persona with shooting stars, considering the way he titled his tour – and furthermore, this isn’t the only song where this idea is mentioned (Don’t Let Me Fall – “I was shooting for stars, on a Saturday night” and of course Airplanes Part 2). Plus points for that – I do like the image.

Okay, now we’ve dealt with the hook, let’s get into the verse and see what’s going on.

Yo, I could use a dream or a genie or a wish
Okay, this is pretty much in line with the “shooting stars” that are mentioned in the hook – things to wish upon, or to place hope in, at least.

To go back to a place much simpler than this
Because after all the partying and smashing and crashing
And all the glitz and the glam and the fashion
And all the pandemonium and all the madness
Theme-wise, this is nothing ground-breaking. The desire for simplicity and his noticing of the price of fame and worldly success is… well, not too uncommon a theme in literary works, and not too uncommon in music as well. However, it’s a breath of fresh air from the glut of songs about clubs, girls, money, sex or dancing – instead, it highlights the problem with such lifestyles – after it’s over and you wake up hungover, what’s next? Questionable rhyme in “crashing” and “fashion”, unfortunately.

There comes a time where you fade to the blackness

And when you staring at that phone in your lap
And you hoping, but them people never call you back
Okay, so he’s a man on a mission, I guess? The phonecall in question seems to be from a record company or the like – because he describes the people to call as “them people”. He may be referring to his party mates as well, but I doubt it given how he describes the after-effect of partying as fading into blackness, probably implying obscurity here.

But that’s just how the story unfolds
You get another hand soon after you fold
And when your plans unravel and descend
What would you wish for if you had one chance?
Hmm… okay, a poker reference, and I guess if you know you’re going to lose it’s right to fold. “Unravel and descend” is clearly related to the airplanes failing, as again which makes much more sense than the “Unravel in the sand” that I heard at first, for some reason.

Interestingly, in the above section for some reason there is a shift in pronoun – from “I could use a dream…” to “There comes a time when you fade into the blackness”. Is he trying to engage the reader listener? Well, that would be a cliched IB English A1 answer… It seems a little encouraging and also a little introspective, getting the listener to think…

Airplane, airplane sorry I’m late
I’m on my way so don’t close that gate
If I don’t make that then I’ll switch my flight
And I’ll be right back at it by the end of the night
Follows the idea of “encouraging message” that I put forth above, when he questions “What would you wish for if you had one chance?” – he’s not going to give up, he’s going to do his best to be resourceful to chase his dreams (he’d “switch his flight”). By saying he’s late for his “airplane” – he may be suggesting he was late in starting his dream, perhaps of being a rapper (though it’s hard to say exactly what he thinks of it, having complained about the pandemonium and the madness of such a lifestyle).

The second verse seems to take the more general verse 1 and applies it in specific to B.o.B…

Somebody take me back to the days
Before this was a job, before I got paid
Before it ever mattered what I had in my bank
Yeah back when I was trying to get a tip at Subway
Back when I was rapping for the hell of it
But nowadays we rapping to stay relevant
Thus, we see his idea of a place much simpler than the place he is now in, now that he’s clearly become more famous and is somewhat of a hip-hop/pop/rap star. He’s fearful that he’ll be shifting towards turning profits, sales, etc… instead of expressing the messages which he wants to express. Well, I guess after all what record companies and the likes are chasing ARE those dollars, so… The lack of pressure he had in the past seems preferable in some way to him, and this is echoed in the later part of this second verse.

I’m guessing that if we can make some wishes out of airplanes
Then maybe oh maybe I’ll go back to the days
Before the politics that we call the rap game
And back when ain’t nobody listened to my mixtape
Well, because he could have fun and not let his artistic visions be constrained by public (or record company) perceptions or expectations.

And back before I tried to cover up my slang
But this is for Decatur what’s up Bobby Ray?
So can I get a wish to end the politics
And get back to the music that started this shit?
Okay, this is a bit puzzling, because I’ve not encountered any unfamiliar slang terms in analysing the lyrics of this song! Anyway, it’s pretty clear he has been contrasting artistic integrity and individualism that he desires in his work with the commercialisation that he expects… Interestingly though, him choosing to explore this tension can be viewed as a calculated, commercial plan as well. Who knows what B.o.B is really thinking??

So here I stand and then again I say
I’m hoping we can make some wishes out of airplanes
Interesting. It’s clear to see that he desires to go back to, or at least revisit quite a bunch of things that were different in the past.

The closing part is pretty similar to the hook, as always, though with B.o.B rapping a bit more; and the song closes with –

I could really use a wish right now
(Ohh~) I could really use a wish right now
A wish, a wish right now (wish right now)

Which I guess is in some ways a reflection of B.o.B’s impatience, his hunger to improve the situation. Thinking about it, the song may have more similarities to Part II than I thought – at first, I saw Part I as a piece on the stresses of outward worldly success, and Part II as basically a fable on the value of industriousness. However, B.o.B’s industriousness – at least in the form of his hunger – is also revealed in Part I, as he cannot accept waiting idly for lucky breaks to come in the form of shooting stars; so he wishes on airplanes, doing what he can do that could work too.

This could be “Song of the Year” 2010 for me – it’s going to be real hard to top as it appeals to me on a musical, emotional as well as intellectual level. Props to B.o.B, Hayley Williams, and the guys producing this track too. It’s a very solid release.

OVERALL RATING = 9.0 / 10
Airplanes is an intelligent combination of skillful vocals by Hayley Williams and rapping by B.o.B. To me, however, this song shines in its lyrics – they are thought-provoking and loaded with goodies leaving VERY much potential for interpretation.

Rihanna ft. Drake–What’s My Name?

Released October 29, 2010.
Billboard: #1.
UK Charts: #18, but will probably go up further.

I must admit that I normally prefer the UK charts to the Billboard ones, at least in the way of #1s. With OMG, California Gurls, Like a G6 and We R Who We R all hitting #1, and the former two doing so a lot of weeks, I think it’s not hard to see why I generally prefer the UK charts. While UK-side they too have their weaker ones like Gettin’ Over You, F— You and Promise This, and the earlier two of the aforementioned songs also having their spot on #1, the fact that it’s a lot more dynamic and all generally makes the UK charts much more interesting to listen to. (OMG isn’t THAT bad, still, I think, just annoying. The other three are bad, though, as far as I’m concerned.)

This one’s an exception though to that idea of “Billboard #1s tend to be bad”, and a pretty good song, especially because of Drake. I guess the hook is annoying sometimes, due to its incessant repetition, but in terms of meaning it passes (she’s too engaged in sex that she forgot her name). However, Rihanna’s verses are pretty solid, and like quite a few other songs, this is one where I sort of like the bridge. The beat’s pretty decent, though…

Drake only does the opening verse here, but it’s incredibly well done and adds some little intellectual bits into this song, which is basically about sex. It’s mostly just good, except for this little pair of lines:

The square root of 69 is 8-something, right?
Cause I’ve been tryna work it out

Score points for correct mathematical reference (64 < 69 < 81), and pretty intelligently, those numbers look like they have some significance. Why 69? Well, pretty obviously, especially considering the context of this song about sex, 69 refers to the sexual position, and 8 could be a homonym for “ate”, which makes sense with reference to 69. I’m still not sure exactly what he’s trying to get at here, but it’s pretty interesting. Other than that remarkably nice gem, Drake’s work on this one’s pretty solid, if unimpressive. It’s a very interesting release that I may not always want to listen to due to the pretty overt sexual themes, but nevertheless I think it’s a good song.

OVERALL SCORE = SQRT(69) 7.0 / 10
What’s My Name? features a rather repetitive and at times annoying hook. However, the rest of the song is solid (Rihanna’s verses and bridge, and most of Drake’s verse). Drake unleashes a little mathematical gem here too.

Young Money ft. Lloyd–BedRock

Released November 14, 2009 (US), March 22, 2010 (UK)
Billboard: Peaked at #2.
UK Charts: Peaked at #9.

Well, this one’s a collaboration from Young Money Entertainment, which I believe was initiated by Lil Wayne and is basically a label for hip-hop artists, mostly rappers. Other than Lil Wayne, I do know that Drake and Nicki Minaj are signed to this, as well as Tyga (one of the guys featured on Chris Brown’s Deuces). All four of them are featured in this song, along with Lloyd, and two other rappers on the label – Jae Millz and, um, Gudda Gudda. I do enjoy quite a bit of Drake’s work, Lil Wayne is okay, and Nicki Minaj’s work is all over the place; so it’ll be interesting to see how this massive collaboration turns out.

As I suspected, it’s basically a collection of rap verses by each artist, with Lloyd handling the chorus. The beat is… there, I guess, and it’s reasonably catchy, so no marks penalised there. Lloyd’s hook as well as the background instrumentals are pretty decent in terms of melody, and though his voice does seem a little shaky at times, it’s nothing too bad. However, the problem with this hook is the lyrics –

Oh Baby, I be stuck to you, like glue, baby
Wanna spend it all on you, baby
My room is the G-spot,
Call me Mr. Flintstone, I can make your bed rock
I-I-I-I can make your bed rock (x4)

I still wonder how he can sing this without exploding into laughter. The glue metaphor in the first line or the idea of using money to buy love in the second line are a little bit over-the-top, but nothing too ridiculous. Third line… G as in gangsta, but also G-spot refers to a theorised erogeneous zone in the vaginal area, which sounds a bit… disturbing, to say the least. The last two lines are the clincher here though – seriously? Call me Mr. Flintstone… I can make your bed rock… How do you NOT laugh while singing these lines?!? The corniness is pretty extreme. The I-I-I-I reminds me of a certain other song that used this little vocal pattern as well, too…

Anyway, enough about Lloyd, he’s basically pretty generic on this, not especially bad, but not especially good either. The six rappers on the song:

#1 LIL WAYNE
She got that good good, she Michael Jackson bad,
I’m attracted to her, for her attractive ass.
Right… That’s, well, … explicit? Argh!

And now we murderers, because we kill time;
I knock her lights out, and she still shine.
This is cliched, but not as bad as above…

I hate to see her go, but I love to watch her leave,
But I keep her running back and forth – Soccer Team
Um, okay. This reminds me of Katy Perry’s Hot n Cold… a case of love bipolar….

Cold as a winter’s day, hot as a summer’s eve
I figured.

Young Money thieves, steal your love and leave
Ah well, this opener is pretty much of a sleeper, really. He’s not too bad, other than the second line. Still, I was expecting more… I was left with very little impression, whether for good or for bad (other than THAT second line). 4/10

#2 GUDDA GUDDA
I like the way you walk and if you walking my way
I’m that Red Bull, now let’s fly away
Okay, Red Bull gives you wings, and all that. Pass.

Let’s buy a place with all kind of space
I let you be the judge and-and-and I’m the case
Not really making much sense here to me…

I’m Gudda Gudda, I put her under
I see me with her, no Stevie Wonder
Okay, so I did some research and “no Stevie Wonder” has similar meaning to “no wonder”. I guess it sort of makes sense once you remove it. That said, care to explain the choice of Gudda Gudda?

She don’t even wonder ’cause she know she bad
And I got her n—–,
Hmm…

GROCERY BAG
Research shows this to mean “it’s in the bag”, which makes sense considering the context of this lyric. Nevertheless, said “research” is a little page on Urban Dictionary, and it came out on Jun 9, 2010, after two posts above (and before) it that puts forth definitions that basically imply “this line is nonsense”, unfortunately. Thus it’s possible that the definition came about because someone figured out that Grocery Bag implied “it’s in the bag”. Speaking of this, I’d best have a look at when the definition on Urban Dictionary came out for “no Stevie Wonder”… Dec 15, 2009, and it’s tagged with “lil wayne”, “bedrock” and “young money”. Hmm, there’s little data outside that to corroborate, so it’s probably another nonsense phrase or name-dropping usage. 1.5/10

#3 NICKI MINAJ
Okay, I get it, let me think, I guess it’s my turn
Maybe it’s time to put this p—- on your sideburns
Rrrrrright. Okay… This is ten times worse than Lil Wayne’s “attractive ass” line…

He say I’m bad, he probably right
He pressing me like button downs on a Friday night
Nothing special here, a bit of a sleeper.

I’m so pretty like, me on my pedal bike
Be on my low starch, be on my egg-a whites
How to lose weight! Ah well, points for referencing the Atkins Diet, I guess. I wonder why the change of inflection for “low starch”, though. Is there something that special about it?

He say, “Nikki, don’t stop, you the bestest”
And I just be coming off the top, asbestos
Asbestos? Isn’t that some volcanic material? This definitely needs research.

From wikipedia, “Asbestos (from Greek ἄσβεστος meaning “unquenchable” or “inextinguishable”) is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals exploited commercially for their desirable physical properties.”

Apparently, it used to be used a lot in construction, with applications such as gaskets, stage curtains, and (probably what we’re concerned with here), ceilings. However modern regulations have placed limits on the use of asbestos for health reasons. So… I still don’t get it. What’s coming off the top? Surely you don’t want yourself removed, for public health (noise) reasons, so…?

A little bit of research suggests a double entendre – improvisation (coming off the top of one’s head), and well, orgasm (off… a different kind of top, to say the least). Hmm… Not enjoyable, at all. 3/10

#4 DRAKE
Ah this should be interesting, some of his songs are pretty decent to good, and his spot on What’s My Name with Rihanna was decent.

I love your sushi roll, hotter than wasabi
I race for your love, “Shake ‘n’ Bake” Ricky Bobby
Okay. This is fine, but nothing special…

I’m at the W but I can’t meet you in the lobby
Girl, I gotta watch my back ’cause I’m not just anybody
I like those slightly faster bits here – his diction’s pretty enjoyable, honestly.

I seen ’em stand in line just to get beside her
I let her see the Aston and let the rest surprise her
That’s when we disappear, you need GPS to find her
Oh, that was your girl? I thought I recognized her
Ironically, the last song I reviewed was Run It!, and I mentioned these lyrics in it too. Ah well, though he’s being a bad guy, this verse is still done pretty well and is definitely a breath of fresh air after one disappointing and two pretty bad verses. 6/10

#5 TYGA
She like tanning, I like staying in
She like romancing, I like rolling with friends
She said I’m caged in, I think her conscience is
She watching that Oxygen, I’m watching ESPN
List of seeming antonyms (that aren’t necessarily antonyms), zzz. It’s decent; I sort of like his rap voice, but it’s still very much a sleeper.

But when that show end, she all on my skin
Lotion, slow motion, roller coasting like back forth, hold it (hold it – hold it – …)
She pose like it’s for posters and I poke like I’m supposed to
Take this photo if you for me, she said, “Don’t you ever show this”
There’s really not much I have to say about Tyga’s section. It’s neither really good nor really bad, but actually that still makes it one of the better ones in this song. Depiction of basically, sex.

I’m too loyal and too focused
To be losing and be hopeless, when I spoke this, she rejoiced it
Said your words get me open, so I closed it
This doesn’t sound too good… I mean, do you seriously expect someone like, well, anyone on the Young Money crew to settle down so easily? Heh…

Where your clothes is? I’m only loving for the moment
Ah yup. Predictable, and explainable. 4.5/10

#6 JAE MILLZ
Uh, she ain’t got a man but she’s not alone
Miss Independent, yeah, she got her own
Ne-Yo references there? Ah well, I like Ne-Yo, so you can have a few points from me.

Hey gorgeous, I mean flawless, well, that’s what you are
How I see it is how I call it, yeah
Look it how she walk, she know she bad
Do, do your thing, baby, I ain’t even mad
Okay, this one is not taken in context. He’s… not bad, which is actually pretty good for this song. At least, his lyrics flow pretty okay, and though simple, make sense and are tinged with a bit of sweetness.

And I ain’t even fast, I’ma stay a while
Hold yo’ head Chris, I’ma take her down
A Chris Brown reference, probably… but it’s left undeveloped. Are you gunning for Rihanna? Which shouldn’t make sense – I don’t see a reason why you’d want to do that. More likely, it’s a reference to Take You Down, which has little to do with violence and is more about, to put it bluntly, getting a girl on the bed. Honestly, I’ve never heard of Jae Millz prior to this song, but he actually seems somewhat better than most of the others who had their shots on this. He’s decent. 6.5/10

I’ve just realised how much I’ve been able to write over such a simple song, and it’s not one that I like very much! Hmm… well, when I do get round to writing the review for B.o.B’s Airplanes (ft. Hayley Williams), we’ll see.

That said, the video is pretty awesome for this one. “Young Money World” is hilarious, to say the least.

OVERALL RATING = 4.5 / 10
BedRock fires along for 4:55 or so, and is loaded with mixed moments – for me, at least, the quality seems to improve somewhat towards the end of the song. It’s really a mixed bag, with decent and terrible elements. Nevertheless, the background melody is pretty catchy and thus I’d give it a pretty average-ish score.

Chris Brown–Run It!

Released August 9, 2005 (US), 2006 worldwide
Billboard: Peaked at #1.
UK Charts: Peaked at #2.

This one’s a pretty fun dance song. Of course, the artist has undergone, to say the least, much controversy, and I didn’t really enjoy most of his recent works (I Can Transform Ya was barely tolerable, Deuces was decent but a sleeper and Yeah 3X just… isn’t my kind of thing). Nevertheless, much of his earlier songs are pretty good. His singing’s pretty decent, and Juelz Santana is entertaining, to say the least – which works, given the generally relaxed themes in this one.

The video is pretty much a collection of dance scenes in a gym, and it’s pretty nice and well-choreographed, with some nice solo parts. Bonus points for a blue cap, heh…

Lyrically, this one can be taken pretty much at face value. It’s basically Brown’s character well, asking a girl to show off her skills and “run it” which presumably implies dancing. The hook and the chorus, if pretty literal, are entertaining…

Is your man, on the floor?
If he ain’t, then let me know
Lemme see if you can run it (run it)
Girl indeed I can run it (run it)

Bonus points for being a nice guy, huh… Contrasts to Drake in Bedrock (Oh that was your girl? I though I recognised) – for some reason I thought of that as I wrote this. The little R&B tinged segment in the bridge is nice too… All in all, it’s a decent song, nothing too impressive about it though.

OVERALL SCORE = 6.0 / 10
Though it’s neither cerebral nor ground-breaking, Run It! is a fun and relaxed party/dance song that stays pretty clean and has rather good vocals and enjoyable raps on it. It’s decent.

Ne-Yo–So Sick

Released January 24, 2006.
Billboard: Peaked at #1.
UK Charts: Peaked at #1.

To begin with, the video for this song is pretty impressive. The snowy landscapes in the background are nice to look at and complement the smooth background instrumentals. I’ve also been a fan, I guess you could say, of Ne-Yo’s voice – from this (relatively) old piece to his later work like Because of You, Hate That I Love You, and up to the recent One In A Million. It makes for a strong, rather dim yet still emotionally considerable piece that’s rather nice on the whole. Looking at the cover, though, I wonder what’s with the pencil. Anyway, pencil scores points for me – I like carrying a pen or writing instrument around with me too!

Lyrically this one’s a bit of a puzzle. Of course, there’s the pretty obvious interpretation that he’s lost his girl, and, well, he’s “so over being blue, (over) crying over (the girl)”. These are self-assertions he tries to make; even though the ground supporting them is weak as he still struggles to accept the relationship as closed (so why can’t I turn off the radio?). He still holds on to memories of his girl, and despite knowing it’s over, he still hasn’t fully accepted it in his heart. The love songs that his character’s “so sick” of only serve to hurt him further, because hearing them causes him to recall the memories that he had with his ex. This interpretation works pretty well, and the lyrics in this way are effective at portraying the depth of Ne-Yo’s character’s pain.

However, So Sick is clearly a love song too – and not just that, it’s pretty much “so sad and slow” (note that there’s nothing wrong with such songs at all!) as far as songs go. I don’t know, but to me this seems like a pretty powerful use of irony – yes, he tries to believe that he’s sick of these love songs, and by extension is sick of the girl – yet, he really can’t get over it at all, as evidenced by him not just listening to such songs, but even singing one himself!

Thus, I guess it seems that once the puzzle is ironed out a little, the song falls into place. In my opinion, it’s a great song – and though it’s one of his earliest releases, as far as I’m concerned it’s one of his best as well. It’s strong both performance-wise and lyric-wise.

OVERALL RATING = 8.0 / 10
So Sick basically tells the story of Ne-Yo’s character’s heartbreak over his loss of a girl, and explores the tensions between his knowledge that the relationship is over and his desire for the relationship to continue. The story is told and delivered very well, though.

Ke$ha–We R Who We R

Released October 22, 2010.
Billboard: Peaked at #1.
UK Charts: Is this released yet? I don’t know.

As an artist, Ke$ha has released a variety of singles that have elicited reactions all over the spectrum for me – Tik Tok (good), Your Love is My Drug (zzz, decent), Blah Blah Blah (bleurgh) and Take It Off (decent). Not counting her featured singles – Right Round with Flo Rida, Dirty Picture with Taio Cruz and My First Kiss with 3OH3,  this is her fifth one, and after listening to it, in terms of sound I can’t help but say that it’s more of the same. Not that this is bad, though – I did find Tik Tok very catchy, and though the premises of the song are questionable Take It Off was pretty enjoyable nevertheless.

The song’s a moderately… okay it seems pretty slow (120 BPM), actually, dance track. (I like my dance tracks on the upper side of 120, more like 130+ BPM usually.) Admittedly, I’m quite surprised with how this one somehow debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts. Then again, I guess my perspective can be pretty different from the American general populace… It’s a pretty pleasant listen, and I don’t think it’s bad other than for the two defects I’ll talk about below; though I don’t see what’s so great about it.

The song is supposedly inspired by the murders of several gay youth in America, and the theme of accepting one’s own individuality and not being put down by, well, haters. It’s a good theme to work with, though the choice of portraying such a theme via party animals doesn’t seem to go down so well…

As I said, I find 2 major defects with this song that severely hamper its listenability (for me, at least), and as you can probably guess it lies in the lyrical content. While I’m normally not too partial to bad lyrics, if they stand out as horrendous, then I think it’s perfectly valid to weight it against the song, and weight it heavily, if need be.

Firstly, and more clearly, we have the

DJ turn it up-up-up-up………
DJ turn it up-up-up-up………

Okay… this is getting a little annoying…

(lower pitch) DJ turn it up-up-up-up…….
(original pitch) DJ turn it up-up (rising pitch) – up – up……..

=(

But that’s not so critical, it’s just a particular lyric in the first verse that well, destroys the song for me…

And yes of course because we’re running this town just like a club
And no, you don’t wanna mess with us
Got Jesus on my necklace

Um… No. That doesn’t work, to say the least, and reminds me of the third of the Ten Commandments. I’m not comfortable listening to it, at all, honestly. And isn’t that what matters on a music review blog? Discomfort need not be a bad thing, but I think if it’s disconnected with the rest of the song, it IS bad, personally.

OVERALL RATING = 2.5 / 10
We R Who We R is a moderately catchy song; however, a weak and grating bridge section, combined with a line that may cause negative reaction to people having some similar traits as myself, severely hampers the song’s effect.

Justin Bieber–Love Me

Released: 26 October 2009
Billboard: #37
UK Charts: #71

The 16-year old Canadian teen-pop sensation, also the target of many haters online, has released a variety of singles; some of which I find bad (like One Time), but not all of them are that bad – honestly, though I wouldn’t really choose to listen to them, Baby featuring Ludacris and Somebody To Love featuring Usher are really not that bad – not really good, but not unlistenable to me either.

This one falls somewhat in between though. Bieber’s singing is… okay, really. Yes, his singing is somewhat higher than what I would expect of any 16-year old; then again, cause I know he’s the one behind this song, that is somewhat excusable. Of course, with auto-tuning I don’t see significant pitch problems at all… In terms of sound, it’s pretty much average and forgettable, but inoffensive.

That said, the lyrics in this song are pretty twisted, so bad until even just casually listening to it causes me to pick up the sheer incredulity behind it all. The song is supposed to be sweet, probably reflecting the songwriters’ ideas of the emotions one experiences with ‘puppy’ or first loves. However, if we look at what exactly he is singing…

My friends say I’m a fool to think that you’re the one for me
I guess I’m just a sucker for love
‘Cuz honestly the truth is that you know I’m never leavin’
‘Cuz you’re my angel sent from above

Okay, nothing too bad so far. I tend to dislike the metaphor of angels that some songwriters use – however, the idea of being a protector, a guardian of some sort is acceptable. It only runs downhill from here, though…

Baby you can do no wrong, my money is yours
Give you a little more because I love ya, love ya
With me, girl, is where you belong
Just stay right here, I promise my dear I’ll put nothin above ya, above ya

Sigh. He sets her up on a pedestal it seems, elevating her to the level of an idol by claiming she is infallible (can do no wrong), and even seems to want to use cash to get at her. Pretty surprising for a then 15 year old, I think.

Love me, love me, say that you love me
Fool me, fool me, oh how you do me

!!!

Kiss me, kiss me, say that you miss me
Tell me what I wanna hear, tell me you (love me) (repeat chorus)

Meh. The chorus is a minor variation on that of the Cardigans’ LoveFool; no wonder it sounds pretty familiar, and is actually not too problematic, except given the singer! Seriously, the chorus is not appropriate for Mr. Bieber to sing… at such a tender age, at least.

I won’t really go into the second verse, but that just puts on the sugar even more (A minute without you is worth more than/A thousand days without your love) and very unfortunately reminds me of a certain Praise and Worship song… All in all, the song is catchy, and musically isn’t bad, but is a complete failure in the lyrics, I find. The depiction of love given is overblown and extreme to the point of being somewhat unbelievable and incredulous.

OVERALL RATING = 3.5 / 10
Love Me isn’t really a bad song in purely musical terms; however, its lyrics bear numerous defects that can sometimes make the song difficult to listen to.