Adele–Rolling In The Deep

Released 29th November 2010
Billboard: #13
UK: #2

“Do you let your heart lead the way, or do you usually let your head make the decisions for you? Have you encountered situations whereby your mind told you one thing but your heart said otherwise?”
(extracted from http://www.great-inspirational-quotes.com/heart-quotes.html)

For me, I find that my brain and heart will both respond to a song. If they both approve of it, such as B.o.B’s Airplanes or Kanye’s All of the Lights – or if they both disapprove of it (there are way too many examples to list here), then it’s pretty straightforward; the former case will score well while the latter, poorly. However, there are situations where the head says one thing and the heart another. In most ‘dispute’ cases, the head says it’s bad or unimpressive while the heart loves it – Bruno Mars’ Grenade and Drake’s Forever are two I can think of – and these usually end up quite decent, too. Today’s song, however, is a special case. I, honestly, don’t really like this song.

In terms of vocal ability, Adele is certainly by no means lacking as she powerfully knocks through the notes of the chorus along with that backing choir – though sometimes I’m not sure I like my songs with that much power slammed into each syllable. My head can appreciate this – my heart is turned off. I’m made to recall Cee-Lo’s Fuck You but as far as I’m concerned, this is controlled power which on a head level works very, very neatly for me; I found the latter song clunky and essentially, a mess (and much worse than Rolling in the Deep). (Notice ‘neat’ is something I’d be more likely to think about cognitively than feel emotively?) It’s good but gets grating quickly.

It probably is appropriate in conveying the rage one might experience at the (opportunity as well as emotional) costs of a breakup, but I’ve got to ask myself whether this is the kind of thing I can possibly enjoy listening to frequently.  Maybe I’m more of a passive person, but breakup songs of quiet resolve and tempered anger (Heartless), or those of sadness (Jay Sean Lights Off) seem to work better.

Perhaps a comparison to Bruno Mars’ Grenade may be appropriate – these songs are both about questionable ways of dealing with break-ups. Grenade is certainly ludicrous; Rolling in the Deep’s method is questionable, but not as nonsensical – it’s left ambiguous (I’ll lay your ship bare…). It’s okay.

I think it’s the production that kills things for me though – the backing chorus is too extensive. Someone once described Willow Smith’s Whip My Hair as a “noisy” song – and it was much worse than this, but unfortunately I’d find Rolling in the Deep having a bit too much unnecessary noise in the chorus.

I don’t know. This is a hard song for me to like – I find it gets grating quickly. I can appreciate the power in her voice, BUT I cannot listen to this without getting annoyed.

OVERALL RATING = 5.5 / 10
I can see that there is power in Adele’s voice, but somehow I find the production a bit of a letdown here, and it seems to mess things up. Technically she is strong, the concept of the song is fine, but… the execution of the song somehow pisses me off.

Pixie Lott ft. Jason Derulo–Coming Home

Was then wasn’t a single. Quite messy. It’s from Turn It Up Louder (which was released 18th October 2010).

This is a rather interesting case. I’m generally not a fan of silly, overly light-hearted songs (California Gurls, OMG, LOL :-), even Just The Way You Are). However, I did like Nothin’ on You and perhaps this song may be well compared to Nothin’ on You. Two reasonably young and up-and-coming artists (actually Lott and Derulo are probably more established than B.o.B and Bruno Mars were, prior to their release) releasing a silly love song, with just the right amount of sugar to make me go ‘awww :-)’ instead of ‘meh’ (Make You Feel My Love, the Adele 2008 song that’s still on the UK charts somehow), ‘eek’ (Just The Way You Are) or ‘yuck!’ (can’t think of examples offhand). I know B.o.B’s primarily a rapper but he has some (won’t say much, but some) singing ability too… It’s actually quite like Nothin’ on You (review), I find.

There’s another song entitled Coming Home on the charts too, and I liked the other for some of its references to older ‘classic’ soul songs (Tears of a Clown, A House Is Not A Home and Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now if I recall correctly) and Skylar Grey’s chorus. The other song brought with it some degree of lyricism and intelligence to it, and also seems to have the appropriate level of sugar. This Coming Home that I’ll be covering today is quite different from the other Coming Home. In my opinion though, both are reasonably good songs though for different reasons.

I like Derulo off-single but not so much on-single. In my opinion the standout track from his debut Jason Derulo was the more downtempo piece Blind (review – it’s grown on me, more appropriate would be 7.5 actually); now I think I prefer it to ALL the five singles he has released – the Imogen Heap structured Whatcha Say (liked at first but got annoying quickly), the lyrically terrible yet somewhat enjoyable In My Head, the scary-falsetto Ridin Solo, the annoying-chorus What If and finally the fun yet, ironically, limited The Sky’s The Limit. I kinda like The Sky’s The Limit but still his non-singles (not just Blind; I actually enjoyed Fallen, another moderate-sugar midtempo piece on love, too) work better for me. I haven’t heard much of Lott’s music up to this point; from what I can recall it’s okay though I’ve never been impressed by her songs – based on past releases, Derulo was more memorable, I find…

Anyway so let’s get down to today’s song. It’s a non-single though it went on the iTunes charts, I think, and it’s a very relaxed song. The instrumentation sounds like the kind of thing that would piss me off for being overly boring, but yet the mild guitar elements in it work well. Plain guitars and plain R&B seem to blend quite well, actually. I guess partly because of the simple, optimistic message, the guitars and production are appropriate for the song. It’s the kind of piece that gets you in a light mood.

Their voices are individually capable to say the least, and, more importantly, work well together in the chorus. The harmonies are good, and in general I think it’s a more slick, cohesive-sounding song than even Nothin’ on You (though it’s easier for singers to blend into each other than rap-singing, I’d think, ceteris paribus). This sounds more like the song that Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks should have done in place of No Air – the two have individually strong voices that worked well together on a technical level, but I personally found my enjoyment of No Air limited for a variety of reasons, such as the painfully overdramatised nature of the song, giving me echoes of JLS’s musically-good but lyrically-terrible Beat Again (review), the slightly awkward chorus (I liked the verses) and some excessive, inappropriate bass notes. I found the song got quite draggy after a while, more so than other ‘slow’ pieces (maybe Ne-Yo’s Mad, FEM Rocketeer, Mario’s Let Me Love You etc). That said No Air was pretty decent (I’d probably have given it around a 5.5 or 6) but they could have gone much further, I think.

I think another reason the song works well is because the lyrics are quite easy for a more reserved guy like me to handle. Looking at the Billboard charts, many of the songs have lyrics that distance me (Born This Way, as discussed in my unfortunately negative review of it, or Rihanna’s S&M – seriously…), about breakups that seem overdramatic (Grenade), or hyper-steamy club songs (Tonight) or weird pickup line attempts (Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor) which I seem to think should be Hey Baby (La La La La), or the ridiculous yet funny Britney Spears song Hold It Against Me) or are too splashed with needless profanity to make the song unlistenable (Pink’s F—in Perfect and of course Cee Lo Green’s F—k You). Looking at the top 20 perhaps we’re left with Rocketeer, Firework, the semi-innocent club song Hit The Lights and I’m not sure what else. The song touches on love issues that would probably be more relevant to a non-superstar non-extrovert guy. Being too busy with work? Yup. Or, to put it the way they do,

I’m out for the whole day
Trying to do it my way
Monday to Friday
Gotta make my baby understand, I do this for ya girl, cause you deserve the time.

<3. Though Derulo goes now that I’m famous… in his verse, most of the song still applies. You don’t really need to be famous to create a situation where it’s hard making time for the one that means most to me, really!

(Interestingly, going down to the next 10 for me yields the ambition-laden but believable #21 More (though for Usher, that’s another story…), the not too mad Yeah 3X at 22, Colbie Caillat’s light and breezy I Do at 23, Taylor Swift’s powerful Back To December, Bieber’s inspirational attempt of Never Say Never, the aforementioned intelligent Coming Home, the slightly resistance-laced Jar of Hearts… and #28… No Hands? Okay. No. But still that was seven in a row…)

Let’s have a rundown of the lyrics.

[PL] Jason Deruloooo
[JD] Pixieee

Heh.

[PL]
Oh-oh, usually I’m always late, tonight I’m gonna be on time

I’m coming home straight after work, so you can have me all to yourself
We’ll be alone just me and you so no one interrupts what we do

Eh so it has a bit of a sex-ish tone to it, huh? Or am I just over-reading things? Nevertheless this sounds promising. It’s certainly a more romantic and for me preferable way to spend the night rather than in another song where I can think of work being mentioned and even focused on – the Roll Deep and Jodie Connor hit Good Times (which was #1 for 3 weeks in the UK, kind of a rarity nowadays, actually, and I enjoyed the song. It’s a good party song, I think, actually!).

[PL]
You say, “where are you going?”
In the night, on the way cause my body’s not to close to you
But you don’t call me, out of respect you can bet that you’ll be waiting home for me, yeah
I’m out for the whole day, trying to do it my way, Monday to Friday
Gotta make my baby understand, I do this for you boy, cause you deserve the time

Like the lyrics here. Simple but sweet. The instrumental as I’ve said is well complemented by lyrics like these.

[PL – Chorus]
I’m coming home straight after work, so you can have me all to yourself
We’ll be alone just me and you, so no one interrupts what we do
I’m coming home straight after work, so you can have me under your spell
All night, all day
So you can have me all to yourself

What exactly is she doing when she sings All night, all day? I’d like to know. I’m working on trying to sing this song, and it’s probably one of those that I can tackle quite well, but I’ll need to figure out what she’s doing. The best I can do now is to roughly try and approximate her melisma here. It’s good, though.

[JD]
You’re always complaining, in the morning when I wake from my sleep,
Brush my teeth and leave
And now that I’m famous, it’s kinda hard making time for the one that means most to me
Yeah, I’m out for the whole day, trying to do it my way, Monday to Friday
Gotta make my baby understand, I do it for you girl, cause you deserve the time

I prefer Jason Derulo’s voice not so overproduced as it often is in his singles. This part works very well for me. He seems to switch from chest to a more mixed voice as he hits the I do it for you girl part; works nicely. The chorus rolls round again, this time with Derulo’s harmony going into the picture, and then we have the bridge…

[JD] When I’m away I miss my baby
[PL] Yeah, I’m gone with half my heart
[JD] God knows, I must be crazy
[PL] For loving from afar
[JD] But tonight is gonna be different
[Together] Cause I’m coming ho—ooo—ooo—ome

YES. It’s a simple pattern, but I find their voices sound well together. This wasn’t a collaboration that I’d think would work on paper, but it does. Not to mention that if trying to sing this solo, this part requires some rather fun control, because (expectedly) Lott sings a lot higher than Derulo does. The long note they sing together is a fun one to follow too… Anyway, they close up by repeating two more times, and then the song sadly draws to a close, though with a nice little instrumental riff at the end.

OVERALL SCORE = 8.5 / 10
I thoroughly enjoyed Coming Home. It’s sugary and optimistic, for sure, but it remains quite a bit more relatable than many love songs out there nowadays are. The instrumentals, Pixie Lott’s and Jason Derulo’s voices, the songwriters behind this song, the lyrics that they came up with… it adds up to a very solid package. It’s simple, but the song has an endearing simplicity that works brilliantly. Normally, songs of this kind make an impact and fade quickly, but for me at least it hasn’t – it’s been one of my top tracks since November or so when it was released.

Usher–More

Released November 22, 2010.
US: #70 (album version)
UK: #26 (RedOne remixed version)

I’ve liked quite a bit of Usher’s songs, as mentioned in my previous post, I enjoyed There Goes My Baby and also DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love. He had four other releases in 2010, if I recall correctly – Papers, Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home) ft. Plies, Lil Freak ft. Nicki Minaj and OMG ft. will.i.am. The quality does range a lot; Papers was good and pretty much in the style of Burn and Moving Mountains, though the latter is still my choice for relationship troubles it was pretty decent. Hey Daddy is pretty middle of the road for me, with this questionable line:

And tonight we’re gonna do a lot of sexin’ – Doesn’t that sound insidious.

A little disturbing, and though it was kinda fun to listen to Plies when he did Bust It Baby (Pt. 2) with Ne-Yo, it seemed to up the disturbing factor a little; his shouty bridge here didn’t work for me. Lil Freak was admittedly fun and the heavy bass beats were good, though there’s unnecessary swearing, the lyrics are about a threesome, and Nicki Minaj releases 2 questionable lyrics:

I’m hotter than 100 degrees – Somehow this wouldn’t appeal to some of the Americans, or the scientists, for that matter.
…
Everybody loves Raymond! – HAHA, he’s Usher Raymond, yes……

Nevertheless, it was enjoyable. And then we had OMG, which was just… a rather weird mess, which though on a critical level I found horrible, actually wasn’t really that unlistenable at all! He hasn’t been doing badly, even on the weaker releases.

This one’s somewhat in between the best and the worst, but as far as I’m concerned doesn’t disappoint. Firstly, the RedOne version. Very danceable, as most of the producer’s releases have been, but is that ‘LET THE BEAT ROCK’ I hear in the vocal bridge section or something else? What exactly is that sound? I do not need to be reminded of Boom Boom Pow, and furthermore this sample was already used in OMG! Or am I hearing things?

The album version, second. Actually I think this is somewhat better than the RedOne remix, it’s more to my preference, I guess, with the harder, sharper, clearer drum hits, better introduction (I think so personally). But I still seem to hear some mechanical-ish voices in the background during the bridge. I don’t think it’s ‘LET THE BEAT ROCK’, something more like ‘GG-GIVE IT MORE’, but it’s annoying and I find detracts from the song.

Either way, I’m pleased by the vocal performance here. It’s strong, commendably timed and not easy to follow; at least he wasn’t wasting his pipes as much as compared to OMG or Lil Freak (though in the latter case I don’t mind, the track was fun nevertheless). Both versions are rather solid club-bangers; I can’t say whether I prefer this or DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love, both are very, very passable. Pitbull’s better than those irritating mechanical voices, but More (album version) has a beat I prefer.

Lyrically, this is one egotistical song, which isn’t a problem in and of itself, and the chorus though nonsensical (bring out the fire? Light what up and take what up higher? Push what to the limit???) is actually quite nice, I think. That said, there are bits that strike me wrongly, mainly in the pre-chorus sections.

Know y’all been patiently waiting, I know you need me, I can feel it,
I’m a beast, I’m an animal, – Somehow this sounds better done by Ke$ha.
I’m that monster in the mirror, – Why am I reminded of Man in the Mirror? Not good.
The headliner, finisher, I’m the closer, winner.
Best when under pressure one second’s left I show up – I see why this was used for the NBA, but… I don’t know what you’re trying to get at!

Despite the prechorus which I’m still confused about, most of it’s a good song, it’s definitely catchy. I’m a bit concerned with all these high ratings I’ve been awarding, but I guess it’s more normal for me to want to write about good songs, so the average would be quite a bit higher than 5.0 which is more like an average across the board for singles, whether I like them like Airplanes, fail to understand them, like, well, Teach Me How to Dougie, see them as overhyped (Airplanes (Part II), for one), or what.

OVERALL SCORE = 6.0 / 10
More is a solid club-banger that doesn’t disappoint. It’s slightly lighter in production than DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love (I’m talking about the album version) and it’s highly danceable, though it doesn’t do much more than come off as a by-the-numbers performance to me. Nevertheless, Usher by the numbers is still relatively good.

Tinie Tempah ft. Kelly Rowland–Invincible

Released December 26, 2010.
Billboard: NA
UK Charts: #32 (December 25 chart), but (probably) climbing.

Listening in to the lyrics of Tinie Tempah’s rap, I’m reminded VERY much of a Celine Dion song, Because You Loved Me. In this song, though, the premise is shifted from what was previously seemingly a unilateral support to a bilateral one. I adore Because You Loved Me, though not because of the content but because of the well, insane stuff she sings:

My world is a better place, because of you~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Sadly, though not bad per se, the content otherwise makes me quite sleepy. Musically, though, the song does have potential. The piano hook from Kelly Rowland is quite smooth and is pulled off well. Tinie’s rapping is competent; I don’t have many complaints about it, really, though it doesn’t quite impress me either.

The bridge where he speaks in his talking voice, and the breakdown which follows are GOOD though. The piano line through the bridge and the variation on the chorus with only the piano contributed well to the song, and the chorus variation also showcased Kelly Rowland’s voice. It’s quite clean; not bad at all.

Other than that, I don’t really have too much to say about this song. In my opinion, it’s an improvement from Frisky and Written in the Stars. Comparing it to Pass Out is quite messy, though; while I think it’s musically generally better (making it, for me, his best single yet), the drum n bass sections of Pass Out do give the song its merit, and Pass Out is more interesting. This is technically good, but not much more.

OVERALL RATING = 6.0 / 10
Invincible is a solid, if (very) generic light pop-rap release from Tinie Tempah and Kelly Rowland. In my opinion it’s better musically than Frisky and Written in the Stars, and actually Pass Out as well, but it still fails to interest me as much as Pass Out did.

Bruno Mars–Grenade

Released September 28, 2010.
Billboard: #2 (but does have a chance of #1)
UK: Not released yet

Ah. This one has a strong theme and is, in my opinion, way ahead of Just The Way You Are at least in terms of how the music goes – the lyrics, I’ll talk about that later, though given that Just The Way You Are was painfully brutal in this aspect, I think Grenade is an improvement too. The music video is pretty effective; the piano-pulling story is sad, and the rain visuals work well.

He’s one strong vocalist, too. The lines like I would go through all this pain – take a BULLet straight through my brain aren’t exactly easy to sing, and he pulls them off quite nicely. That oscillating drumline in the background works well to highlight his singing. Musically, I have no complaints.

Unfortunately, like Beat Again, this one suffers from bad lyrics too. While this may partially be my opinion since I can’t say I’ve really fallen (romantically) for anyone yet, the intended poignancy of the lyricism becomes incredibly illogical.

Easy come, easy go
That’s just how you live – oh
Take, take, take it all, but you never give
Should’ve known you was trouble from the first kiss
Had your eyes wide open – why were they open?

Firstly, how would you know? Unless you were inspecting HER eyes too… But other than that verse 1 is okay.

Gave you all I had and you tossed it in the trash, you tossed it in the trash – you did
To give me all your love was all I ever asked, cause what you don’t understand is –

I like this pre-chorus part… he handles the melody very well. So, let’s go to the chorus:

I would catch a grenade for you (yeah, yeah)
Throw my hand on a blade for you (yeah – yeah)
I’d jump in front of a train for you (yeah – yeah) – !!!
You know I’d do anything for you (yeah – yeah) ooohhh
I would go through all this pain
Take a bullet straight through my brain – oh-kay, this is getting disturbing.
Yes, I would die for you baby – but you won’t do the same

And you know it… So I guess he must have fallen deeply in love. However, to have dropped to this extent just seems disturbing. It seems kind of unlikely that jumping in front of a train would save her too, if you needed to physically rescue her – both of you would die, right?

Verse 2:
Black, black, black and blue, beat me till I’m numb
Tell the Devil I said “hey” when you get back to where you’re from
Mad woman, bad woman, that’s just what you are, yeah
You’ll smile in my face then rip the brakes out my car – ???

I actually like the second line, pretty witty there. Sadly, though, the last line makes little sense if we consider the music video. There is no car. I understand it’s just meant to be an aggressive action… Seems like an excuse to rhyme with “are”, unfortunately.

Bridge:
If my body was on fire, ooh
You’d watch me burn down in flames – This reminds me of something…
You said you loved me, you’re a liar – He doesn’t love the way she lies.
Cause you never, ever, ever did baby…

Pretty well done, too… though is the girl really that terrible? From the music video, she only dumped him, so I can’t say very much. Even if the rest of what’s mentioned in the song is true (being calculating from the first kiss, ripping the brakes out his car) this seems like a pretty dangerous inference to make.

The video ends in a scary way, with Mars dragging the piano, and a truck approaches him, and it cuts to black. Oh dear…

All in all, despite the numerous lyrical flaws in it, I think Grenade is a good pop song. The atmospheric effect of the drums contributes significantly to the song, and of course Mars’ vocals are smooth. This seems a bit of an antonym song to Just The Way You Are, though – one song about extreme joy over love, and one about extreme heartbreak.

Wait – some artists thread a few songs to tell a story; I can remember that for Ne-Yo, other than the Libra Scale series, Part of the List and Mad told a coherent story, too. Of course, Kanye West’s Runaway video also featured quite a few songs. Could Grenade be Just The Way You Are’s successor? After all, her eyes made the stars look like they’re not shining, so they were BRIGHT and WIDE, perhaps? He was pretty much blinded – So don’t even bother asking if you look okay / You know what I’d say! 

OVERALL SCORE = 6.5 / 10
Grenade is a well-executed pop song about heartbreak that unfortunately has lyrics which seem over-the-top and excessively dramatic. Bruno Mars’ execution is excellent, nonetheless.

B.o.B–Cold As Ice

Not released as a single, at all.
“No Genre” is a mixtape released by B.o.B on December 7, 2010.

Well, he was the guy who did the rapping on Nothin’ on You and then impressed me with the Hayley Williams collaboration on Airplanes. I then sat through Magic disappointed, and Don’t Let Me Fall was just pretty decent. The album came, and it was somewhat controversial, in a manner slightly like how 808s & Heartbreak was such for Kanye West – though the transition wasn’t as dramatic here as it was for Kanye. Some viewed it as selling out; for me, because I was introduced to B.o.B by the very definitively pop song Nothin’ on You, I guess I can’t speak from that perspective.

No Genre includes a variety of tracks, some of which seem a bit of a response to such criticism (Beast Mode and So So do, at least), while others seem to continue somewhat in the same pop-rappish vein as the album did. (Feet Don’t Fail Me Now, for one). However, this track stood out in a good, good way. When listening to it, at first it seemed like a pretty standard, slightly good track. The little piano thing that plays in the verses is nice, a bit haunting, and goes well with the message…

It’s basically the story of a bank robbery laced with revenge, but VERY well executed. The hook is mildly catchy and of pretty decent quality, but the star here lies in the verses. They’re interesting in terms of content, and his delivery on verse 3 sent a few chills. Verse 1 isn’t anything special, basically establishing the setting of the situation.

But we lived packed in a shack
Like the old lady who lived in a shoe

Heh, a bit funny! Yup, a small space. (“She had so many children she didn’t know what to do.”) Let’s go to the hook:

You’re as cold as ice (you’re as cold as ice)
You’re willing to sacrifice our love

Well. So fast? She hasn’t breached his trust, yet, has she? Well… I think “cold” here means “calculating” or “detached” i.e. she’s perfectly willing to gamble on a well, risky bank robbery. She’s willing to sacrifice their love ‘cause if they get caught…

And now you got me (froze), I said you got me (froze)
Because you’re so c-cold, you left me cold tonight

Verse 2 describes the first part of the attempt, and is pretty much narrative, really. However, when we get back to the hook things get a little bit more interesting. Their plan may have failed – however, at this stage, it may have been an honest mistake. She chooses to stay rather than run, which isn’t a wrong act per se because the police would not know then that she was involved in the crime at all, and since she was “on the clock”, well, yeah. She would be fine. From a self-preservation point of view, correct decision. However, playing it cool may have, well, alarmed B.o.B’s character. Let’s go to verse 3.

So as I get escorted out, to my surprise what do I see
Thats my baby sittin’ in cuffs tellin’ the officers everything

The frustration becomes more apparent in his tone…

I said, “Baby, why baby, what did I do to forsake you?
How can you turn your back on me? You’re selfish, I hate you!
All I ever wanted to do was love you, were you fakin’?”

The build-up here for the climax to come is pretty impressive too. It’s hard to describe; just give the track a listen.

So I snatched the gun from my officer, and I cocked it and I aimed it
And said, “This is for all the pain you done put me through!
You’re ungrateful, how could you?!………. All I wanted to do was save you!”

Brilliantly epic.

And here I am day 55, with 55 hundred to go
When you love a girl who is as cold as ice, eventually you’ll get froze

The contrast of the somewhat calm, resigned tone of his voice here to the frenzied madness of the past few lines serves to highlight the extent of rage he faced a moment ago. Well, he killed her (that’s 15.2 years, thereabouts… which is longer in most cases than it would be for bank robbery)… The hook this time can be interpreted both literally (cold cause… she’s dead) and figuratively (for telling on him). The bridge is just a little weird extension of the song, it seems:

32 degrees below zero, you’re like 31 flavors you’re oh so cold
Feels like 30 straight days of falling snow

32 degrees F is the freezing point of water, so okay. 31 flavours of Baskin Robbins ice cream. The 30 straight days of falling snow is pretty bad, though… It’s quite nice to listen to, though. And as I said, the few sparse piano notes do enhance the song significantly.

OVERALL RATING = 8.0 / 10
Cold As Ice, in terms of delivery is sharp and powerful; it definitely gave me chills the first time I listened to the third verse. While it did not engage me on a cerebral level (like Airplanes or So Sick, at this writing the top 2 songs I’ve reviewed on this blog did), the execution is, as far as I’m concerned, highly commendable. His rapping, singing and the production combine together very well.

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.