To be released: February 8 2011.
When I heard this song, I was reminded of many bad songs that I’d listened to, most notably of Usher’s “OMG” – nevertheless, this isn’t actually that bad, as it seems like it followed up on quite a lot of the lessons I’ve learnt from the bad songs I’ve been reminded of. I’ve kinda liked Jay Sean’s voice on some of his earlier releases, like the acoustic version of “I’m Gone“, and though it wasn’t groundbreaking or anything (very generic, in fact), I actually really liked his earlier collaboration with Lil Wayne on “Down”. I’m not really into rap-focused songs, but nevertheless Lil Wayne has had good spots on many songs, including one that I recently reviewed (“Forever” with Drake, Kanye West and Eminem – I think he pulled the best one on that set). My expectations going into this are quite high, and the song didn’t completely fail, but it didn’t fare that well either.
Lesson 1: Repetitive choruses/lyrics, though not always bad, often are.
Offenders: ‘Imma Be’ – Black Eyed Peas, ‘Eenie Meenie’ – Justin Bieber/Sean Kingston
Good Examples: ‘Ridin’ Solo’ – Jason Derulo, ‘Lover, Lover’ – Jerrod Niemann
This is bad. Hit The Lights repeats the titular phrase all over the place. Probably not as bad as the 106 times in Imma Be, but still, I find the phrase is over-spammed. Doesn’t automatically make it bad (it worked for me in Ridin’ Solo), especially if the repetition is done with some variation (as in Lover, Lover) but I find this one lacking. And what does it mean to hit the lights anyway? Which brings me to…
Lesson 2: Ambiguity or referencing in lyrics is usually nice, but not when taken too far.
Offenders: ‘Bedrock’ – Young Money ft. Lloyd, ‘All The Right Moves’ – OneRepublic
Good Examples: ‘Airplanes’ – B.o.B ft. Hayley Williams, ‘If I Die Young’ – The Band Perry
Most of the song is okay, although the lyrics are very cliched – standard fare on being in a club and all. Not much referencing per se except ‘YMCMB’ in Lil Wayne’s verse that I can see, but the problem still lies in the repeated phrase. Hit the lights. Does it have anything to do with the lighters in the air that he opens the chorus with? Or perhaps, we can have a look at another song’s discussion of some… types… of lights:
All of the lights –
Cop lights, flash lights, spot lights, strobe lights, street lights
(All of the lights, all of the lights)
(All of the Lights, Kanye West ft. Rihanna, Elton John, Kid Cudi et al.)
Probably the strobe lights in a club, so hitting the lights would probably refer to going to a club. Which leads to another question. If he’s singing this in a club environment, presumably, then what’s the point of the song? Or maybe more specifically it’s about dancing? This would be possible given that he says ‘come out of the dark and let the DJ lead the way (the way, the way)’. Still, I’m not really convinced. I know the lyrics aren’t critical to a song’s success at all, but when they’re bad it can really undermine the song. This one isn’t as distractingly bad as what I found All The Right Moves to be, and it isn’t stupidly bad (like Blah Blah Blah) but still the titular phrase seems to come off as rather vague to me.
Lesson 3: Low, background voices speaking/shouting are generally best avoided.
Offenders: ‘OMG’ – Usher ft will.i.am, ‘Boom Boom Pow’ – Black Eyed Peas
Good Examples: Can’t see any…
A bit annoying in the introduction, but generally not too bad. Forgivable, I guess. But I wonder what’s with this trend. For me, it’s just annoying and often detracts from the song.
Lesson 4: ‘OH’, ‘HEY’ and ‘AYO’ are often bad, bad words.
Offenders: ‘OMG’ – Usher ft will.i.am, ‘Just A Dream’ – Nelly
Good Examples: ‘Dynamite’ – Taio Cruz
Probably the section before Lil Wayne comes in would have made me compare this song to OMG which was much more egregious (this one’s only a very short section, not brutally repeated for most of the song). Nevertheless, this is one area where I find the song is incredibly annoying as well. It’s sad when we consider that these 2 guys released Down around 2 years back. That said I enjoyed the high AYO in Dynamite for some reason – perhaps because it wasn’t repeated so much, and its use made sense in context.
Lesson 5: Be careful with featured artists.
Offenders: ‘Do You Remember’ – Jay Sean ft. Sean Paul and Lil Jon, ‘California Gurls’ – Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg
Good Examples: ‘Nothin’ on You’ – B.o.B ft. Bruno Mars, ‘Love The Way You Lie’ – Eminem ft. Rihanna, ‘Little Freak’ – Usher ft. Nicki Minaj
Pop rap collaborations are extremely common nowadays, whether it’s a rapper with a singer supplying the hook (and possibly the bridge or one verse) or a singer with a rapper tackling a verse or bridge (which is the case in this song) – B.o.B is a special case who can tackle both (though better at rapping). The inclusion of Lil Jon in Do You Remember made the song almost unlistenable for me, and Snoop Dogg sounded honestly rather ridiculous in California Gurls. The three good examples for me were very, very solid pop-rap collaborations that had both elements (singer and rapper) nailed well. Weezy’s spot here is good, though perhaps not really that impressive (compared to Bruno Mars’ vocal feature on Nothin’ on You, for example).
Lesson 6: Sometimes going for a raunchier/more daring image is a bad idea if not well executed.
Offenders: ‘Can’t Be Tamed’ – Miley Cyrus, ‘Alejandro’ – Lady Gaga
Good Examples(?): ‘Bad Romance’ – Lady Gaga, ‘Forever’ – Drake ft. Kanye et al
I don’t really like the direction Jay Sean’s been going with the recent singles he’s released. Down was pleasurable, and I enjoyed some of his earlier singles like Stay. Do You Remember left me somewhat underwhelmed, but now he’s becoming somewhat more daring. It’s so hot there’s girls just taking all their clothes off doesn’t sound like a very nice message to send, honestly. Such a song might work by Sean Kingston (humorous), or Usher (appropriate, perhaps), or Trey Songz. It doesn’t seem very convincing to me delivered by Jay Sean.
Lesson 7: Product placement can bring in money, and sometimes it works, but at times it seems out of place.
Offenders: ‘Leavin’’ – Jesse McCartney, “Like A G6” – Far East Movement
Non-offensive Examples: “Replay” – Iyaz, “Like A G6” – Far East Movement
Good (??) Examples: “Hard” – Rihanna ft. Young Jeezy (the Louis Man joke is hilarious.)
The iPhone is featured in this one. It’s not too bad and with his accent it kind of rhymes with off but even then it’s quite a stretch. I’d consider it non-offensive, really. I listed G6 twice because the champagne name uses (Moet and Cristal) are okay, but the titular G6 just looks like leaving loads of questions to be asked.
Lesson 8: Don’t waste your singers’ potential.
Offenders: ‘OMG’ – Usher ft. will.i.am, ‘Sexy Chick’ – David Guetta ft. Akon
Good Examples: ‘There Goes My Baby’ or ‘Burn’ or ‘Moving Mountains’ or ‘You Make Me Wanna…” – Usher, ‘King of Anything’ – Sara Bareilles
I was fearful of this when I heard the first part of the verse, it’s low and doesn’t show off his vocal range. Fortunately (though the song may be autotuned) it takes off a bit, giving it a more interesting character than the ‘bad’ songs. This is decent, and his note at the end of the bridge section was at least reasonably nice… I’d say this is addressed somewhat, though I wouldn’t say it uses the full potential of his voice. His voice is smooth, which works well in those contemporary R&B or light dance songs, but its potential is wasted on dance tracks like this. Not as terrible as OMG or Sexy Chick – he does get to use it, but I feel it’s overshadowed by the production.
That said, I have to admit the song works as a party song. The harder sound he’s been going with isn’t something I quite like, and while it can work in some of his songs (I listened to Break Ya Back which seems to work better while also going with a slightly edgier image) I’m not so sure it’s going well with this one. Nevertheless, it’ll probably chart well, it looks like one of those calculated songs… Somehow his singing in I Made It that:
See I don’t live for glamour, and I don’t care for fame
I’m in this for the love of the game
Seems to be less believable now. He did well in I Made It, I thought. Unless he really enjoys such party tracks? And I’m getting underwhelmed by Cash Money’s release choices too. They sorta-wanted yet decided not to release War, which I felt was the best track on All or Nothing, and now this over Break Ya Back or the title track Freeze Time? I’m disappointed. Probably marginally better than 2012 (I’d rate 4.5), and definitely better than Do You Remember (I’d rate 3.0) but this seems to lack the appeal of Down (which I’d rate 7.5 or so). Not unlistenable, but it gets grating after a few plays.
Then again, I do find myself wanting to listen to the song. It’s probably catchy. A well crafted, yet terrible hook.
OVERALL SCORE = 5.0 / 10
While I was expecting much more from Jay Sean, Hit The Lights is serviceable as a dance/club song. His voice is smooth as usual and used decently, and Weezy’s verse is alright, but the material that is presented here isn’t impressive at all; I’d even say disappointing. The song isn’t terrible; I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but it feels like a letdown.
Posted by jk 
JK's Single Reviews 