Posts Tagged ‘Ke$ha’

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Hot 100 Roundup—1/21/12

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

Jason Mraz—“I Won’t Give Up”
#8
Being the minor talent that he is, I expected Mraz to play it safe with a snappy sound-alike to “I’m Yours” for his next single, but it seems his talent is so minor he doesn’t realize where his best interests lie. This is super-serious, packed thick with sincere clichés that appear to have been lifted at random from self-help books. Each verse ends either with an affirmation or a “deep” question: “I had to learn what I’ve got, and what I’m not, and who I am”; “God knows we’re worth it”; and my favorite, “How old is your soul?” These seem to have no connection to the lines that precede them, or a connection so vague that only those well versed in the jargon could understand them. I’m not sure that group includes Mraz. Just to give him the benefit of the doubt, I’d like to think this is intended as parody, but the music suggests otherwise. Which means that Mraz probably isn’t even a minor talent. He is a cad, though. That I know for sure.

Skrillex featuring Sirah—“Kyoto”
#74
Skrillex is polishing and improving his sound with every record. “Kyoto” adds a guest rap, but otherwise uses the same basic formula as his previous singles: establish a familiar groove with a hyped, bass heavy mix, stop dead with a scream of urgent exclamation, followed by a needle drop and all hell breaking loose, repeat, then end on the original groove. The big difference here is that the shifts are less dramatic, the change in style almost seamless (the fact that he’s working with hip-hop rhythms may have something to do with that). Whatever you may think of him, he’s a talent, and he isn’t stupid, his music is growing and developing. How far that development goes is another question: the clichéd “Japanese” melody here suggests that his musical sensibilities, however broad they may be, aren’t very deep.

3OH!3—“Set You Free”
#84
Another couple of minor talents who aren’t as smart as they think they are. I’m not saying that electro-clash can’t be used to transmit a “serious” message, but it does tend to take the “clash” out of it, which means it’s missing all the fun and most of reason for its existence. I like the line “I don’t live in bed no more”, but otherwise this is boring, pretentious, and self-pitying. They don’t even sound like themselves, they sound like Weezer fans with sequencers. Ke$ha should heed the warning: this is where taking yourself seriously gets you.

Gotye featuring Kimbra—“Somebody That I Used to Know”
#91
Imported from Belgium, this sounds like it could become the sort of sleeper hit that “Pumped Up Kicks” was, only without the pretentious seriousness. The mid-sixties Latin groove (courtesy of Luiz Bonfa’s “Seville”) gives it the feel of a Nancy Sinatra-Lee Hazlewood track, minus the camp value of Hazlewood’s singing. And the woman’s part, which starts with the best line in the song, “Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over”, carries echoes of Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me”. In other words, this contains references to enough pop landmarks, without any of them being obvious on first listen, to make it sound both familiar and out of the ordinary.

Montgomery Gentry—“Where I Come From”
#94
For the most part, I don’t mind country songs praising small town life—two of my favorite records of the last few years are Miranda Lambert’s “Famous In a Small Town” and Ashton Shepard’s “More Cows Than People”—but this is so aggressive, and so defensive, that it comes close to a kind or rural fascism. Their examples of small town life are bizarre, especially the lines about two guys fighting in a parking lot: “Nobody’s gonna call the cops”. So that’s what’s wrong with big cities; it’s not that people fight in the streets, it’s that people insist on summoning the authorities when they do. Better yet is the old man sitting on the porch who can “buy your fancy car with hundred dollar bills”. What is he, a rapper? A meth dealer? Whatever the case, I bet he drives an old beat-up pickup truck covered in mud when he takes his mother to church on Sunday morning. They always do.

Jay-Z Kanye West—“Gotta Have It”
#98
Is this actually being promoted as a single? If it is, it’s an odd choice. For starters, it isn’t even two and a half minutes long, which means it won’t fit on any existing radio formats. Second, though the James Brown sample provides a great hook, it isn’t up there with “Niggas In Paris” in sing- or hum-along terms. It does, however, continue in a more obvious way the theme of racial politics and black history that “Niggas” snuck in between the lines. Have they got some kind of thematic singles campaign going that they’re not telling anyone about? Or are they just being eccentric?

Listen on Spotify

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Will the “Real” Ke$ha Please Shut Up?

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

It is the right, it may even be a requirement, of every generation to revise, or even reverse, the work of the generation before it, either through intention or misunderstanding. On those grounds I have no problem with Ke$ha’s version of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”. If she wants to turn a sarcastic kiss-off song into an ironic (in the Alanis Morisette definition of the word) “suicide note”, she’s free to do so with no complaint, no matter how mistaken it may seem to me and many others. I am free, however, to complain about the performance itself, which seems to me to wallow in just about every artistic fallacy that pop music is prone to, the least of which is accepting Alanis Morisette’s definition of irony and acting as if it made sense.

Anybody who writes seriously about pop music long ago resigned themselves to the fact that most performers define art as self-expression, and that, for them, self-expression generally means vomiting forth your emotions in a public arena and seeing what sticks. If something does, rinse and repeat. Most of the time this idea is underplayed and can be tolerated, especially if it comes with a good beat, but occasionally a performer will double down on this doubled fallacy and come up with something that is, if you sympathize with the performer’s situation, emotionally affecting; yet at the same time, whatever your feelings, it’s impossible to listen to.

According to Ke$ha, this recording came about because, while tracking the vocal for what she thought would be an entirely different version, she found herself connecting with the lyrics, as she interpreted them, far more strongly than she had anticipated, and she began to cry. Instead of cutting the take short, she soldiered on, and reworked the arrangement to fit the vocal track. It’s a sweet, touching story, if true, but it doesn’t excuse the result. It makes sense that Ke$ha’s version would be slower, but the irregular tempo here is so slow that the melody almost disappears, along with any sense of emotional dynamics, tension, or variation. Dylan’s version bounces back and forth between lyrical regret and deep sarcasm. Ke$ha’s starts at a single emotional pitch and stays there for the entire song. It could almost be described as emotional minimalism if it wasn’t for the constant, over the top sound of Ke$ha sobbing, snuffling, and sniffling, sounds as irritating to me as distorted electroclash synth bursts are to those who hate her pop records.

According to Popdust’s Katherine St. Asalph, many people, when they heard Ke$ha was recording this song, expected the worst: a bitchy, discoey version full of random electronic effects and Ke$ha’s sarcastic, braying vocals. If only. That would not only have been a closer fit to the song Dylan wrote, but would have been far better musically than what has appeared. I can already hear those who will say that Ke$ha is finally revealing her true self, that after bathing in artifice the last two years she has finally decided to be “authentic” (no doubt at least one of them will cite the influence of Adele). Let’s just hope that Ke$ha herself doesn’t buy into that idea. My belief is that she was overawed by the idea of recording a Dylan song (and on such a high profile project) and thought she had to do something serious and “different”, both from the original and from her own records. A temporary and understandable lapse. Fortunately, she has simultaneously released the latest remix (with Andre 3000, Lil Wayne, T.I., and Wiz Khalifa) of my favorite of her songs, “Sleazy”, which is joyfully inauthentic (whatever that may mean) and therefore closer to the truth. Long may she bray.

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Hot 100 Roundup—8/20/11

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

Five Finger Death Punch—”Over and Under It”
#77
I’d like to think this record is a joke, but there’s nothing about the performance that indicates that it is, and I suppose they mean it. Which leaves us with the oxymoron of a metal band who are overly concerned about the haters who spread rumors about them, such as suggesting that they give a shit. It makes no sense at all. If they’re over and under it, why bother writing a song? And why bellow all the time?

Ellie Goulding—”Lights”
#85
A good record that should be especially enjoyed by those who wish Bjork’s career had moved in the direction of pop instead of the avant garde. The catchiness of this, though, sounds more like a piece of luck than anything else, and since Goulding isn’t Bjork, I don’t expect much from her in the future.

Mat Kearney—”Ships In the Night”
#87
I’d swear I’ve heard this song before. Thousands of times, in fact. Once, long ago, it may even have been something I enjoyed.

Dev—”In the Dark”
#92
Dev is essentially an icier version of Ke$ha. The subject matter is roughly the same—clubbing, partying, and sex—but the approach is more distant, hence more erotic. As long as The Cataracs are providing her beats, there’s doesn’t seem to be any reason she couldn’t keep this up for ever. Here they create a Euro-disco feel, only with more restraint and without the melodic cheesiness, and the result is actually looser and warmer than their previous records. It’s the new version of cool—Selena Gomez’s records have some of the same feeling—and they’re masters of it.

Tinie Tempah featuring Wiz Khalifa—”Till I’m Gone”
#96
I like the way Tempah raps—in his British way he reminds me of Pitbull—but his verses seem to have nothing whatever to do with Khalifa’s generic chorus. I wonder which came first.

Tyga featuring Chris Richardson—”Far Away”
#98
Richardson does Bruno Mars/Hayley Williams, Tyga does B.o.B., but they can’t seem to decide whether they’re doing “Nothing On You” or “Airplanes”. Or maybe they’re trying to do both at once. Not that it matters much. This is mediocre either way.

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Hot 100 Roundup—7/9/11

Wednesday, August 10th, 2011

Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera—”Moves Like Jagger”, #8
Javier Colon—”Fix You”, #52
Dia Frampton, “Losing My Religion”, #54
Vicci Martinez—”Dog Days Are Over”, #68
Xenia—”The Man Who Can’t Be Moved”, #92

Pitbull featuring T-Pain & Sean Paul—”Shake Senora”
#69
This record doesn’t sound like a good fit for anyone involved—too brazen and obvious for T-Pain, but, if anything, too subtle for Pitbull, who’s better at leering and lustful growling than the lightness of touch that would be required to make this work. As for Sean Paul, only his biggest fans would notice that he’s here. It doesn’t even work as parody. All they’ve done is overemphasize what the song is already about, and not in a way that points out anything interesting. I do like Pitbull comparing booty, which reminds me of “My Gal Is Red Hot”, but the rest is a disaster.

Selena Gomez & the Scene—”Love You Like a Love Song”
#72
One of the things I love about the production team Rockmafia is their belief in traditional pop form and structure. They’re well aware of the possibilities of emotional tension and release inherent in verse-chorus-verse form, and they do their best to take advantage of it while keeping the music itself as simple and catchy as possible. Sometimes the results sound too simple and automatic, as they do on the chorus here. But it also helps them to create classic pop moments like the first verse, as perfect a melding of music, mood, lyric, and performance as you’ll ever hear. If the rest of the song came close to it, this would be a great record. As it is, it’s only a very good one. Not that that isn’t achievement enough.

Bella Thorne & Zendaya—”Watch Me”
#95
What’s most fascinating about this Disney-pop variation on Ke$ha is how well it works. It isn’t as brash as Ke$ha—the music is more bass heavy, and of course the “sleazy” is removed—but otherwise it would be difficult to tell the two apart. It isn’t that Ke$ha’s music is easy to imitate, but that it’s tapped into a generation’s universal mood of directionless, hyped-up energy and restlessness that, oddly enough, Disney has helped to promote and capitalize on, and maybe even helped to create. The Disney tweens of five years ago are the Ke$ha, Katy Perry, and GaGa and Glee fans of today, and it’s a sign of Disney’s marketing savvy that they’re trying to keep up with them. I don’t think they are, quite, since it’s all out of their control now, but this is a good record nonetheless, and they deserve credit for trying.

Jill Scott featuring Anthony Hamilton—”So in Love”
#97
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 5/14/11

Train—”Save Me, San Francisco”
#98
The Loggins and Messina of their era, and if they’re not as irritating as, say, Rascal Flatts, it’s only because their tunes are catchier and clever self-deprecation is a part of their act. They’re just as clueless, though. They can’t even get a song about their hometown right. Except for a few obvious lyrical references, nothing about this record sounds like San Francisco. What it sounds like, instead, is an above average Rolling Stones cover band, and considering the Stone’s history in the bay area, is that really the vibe you want to go for?

Brantley Gilbert—”Country Must Be Country Wide”
#100
True enough, but does that mean it has to be heavy metal, too?

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Bubbling Under—4/23/11

Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

Death Cab for Cutie—”You Are a Tourist”
#108
For a piece of indie chicken soup music, this isn’t bad. These guys know their craft, and the way all their dinky little hooks mesh together at the end is impressive. But dinky little hooks are what they remain, to go along with their dinky little ideas and their dinky little voices. The guitar figure is particularly irritating.

Johnny Cash—”Ain’t No Grave”
#112
Rick Rubin’s production, with its effect-laiden drums and atmospherics, is, to my ears, a mistake. It provides an overemphasis that not only isn’t necessary but often detracts. At least Rubin had the good taste not to overwhelm Cash’s vocals, which provide all the atmosphere this record needs and more. He sounds older than all the sins you know he only half regrets, and at times the voice betrays weakness, but he never sounds feeble or less than enraptured with the song and its message. He lived this music so deeply that death was the only thing that could sever his connection with it.

All Time Low—”I Feel Like Dancin’”
#113
The lyrics are clever in their way—when’s the last time you heard a song about a guy turning down sex so he could keep dancing? Not to mention being felt up by another guy on the dance floor: “Now I know how Ke$ha must be feeling”. But they don’t seem to know how Ke$ha sounds; their power-chord dance-pop is so old hat that this comes out sounding like Disney pop. Only the lyrics tip you off otherwise.

NKOTBSB—”Don’t Turn Out the Lights”
#114
Since I never cared much for, or even paid much attention to, Backstreet Boys or New Kids On the Block, their co-reunion doesn’t mean much to me. This record, which sounds like something Chris Brown might have cut two years ago, does nothing to pique my interest. I also have my doubts about their combined name. New Kids On the Backstreet Boys? I don’t even want to think about it.

Rej3ctz—”Cat Daddy”
#119
These guys claim to have invented every dance movement to come out of L.A. in the last few years, and if “Cat Daddy” is their evidence, I believe them. The inventiveness of this record, produced by JHawk, never stops, and in almost totally deconstructing hip-hop it moves jerkin’ to an entirely different level, one from which it can do just about anything it wants. I may well be overrating it, but right now this sounds like the best and most important record of the year. May their pockets be forever guacamole.

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Bubbling Under—3/19/11

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Keith Urban—”Without You”
#107
It’s gotta be his looks, right? That and the oh so sincere little cracks in his voice. Granted, his songs and arrangements aren’t as tastelessly bombastic as say, Rascal Flatts, but his music is just as empty.

Marsha Ambrosius—”Far Away”
#112
Everybody was getting tired of the old Alicia Keys, so here’s a new one. Remember, Keys’ first album wasn’t that bad, either.

Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland—”Gone”
#113
I don’t think much of “Just a Dream”, but at least it feels like something new. This is just a mediocre love duet.

Waka Flocka Flame featuring Kebo Gotti—”Grove St. Party”
#114
I’m so tired of hearing people yelling “Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaah!” in the background of rap records that I’m probably harder on this than it deserves. Waka Flocka Flame isn’t a terrible rapper—his voice has an amazing tone, remiscent of Young Jeezy only not as rough, and his sense of flow keeps his stuff rhythmically interesting even when he doesn’t have much to say. Gotti, however, sounds like every third rapper you’ve ever heard, and he rhymes “motherfucker” with “motherfucker”—not just once, but over and over again. Talk about not having anything to say.

Miranda Cosgrove—”Dancing Crazy”
#118
This is where Nickelodeon seizes the tween pop kingdom that Disney, at least for the moment, seems to have given up. There’s nothing daring or particularly striking about this record, but it’s perfectly put together and immensely entertaining. The second half of the chorus, where Cosgrove sarcastically jokes about being heard over the music, is brilliant. The only real flaw is Cosgrove’s voice, especially on the first verse. Surprisingly enough, she sounds too young for the material. Tweens like their heroes and heroines slightly older than they are; it gives them something to aim for. Maybe Ke$ha should take a crack at it.

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Sleazy

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Already the best song on Cannibal, and now Ke$ha delivers up the remix, with a rougher beat and Andre 3000 6000 providing the lead-in. Sweet.

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Hot 100 Roundup 12/19/10

Sunday, December 26th, 2010

T.I. featuring Eminem—”That’s All She Wrote”
#18
No matter how much he brags, the events of the last couple of years have worn the sharp edges off of T.I. Even when he’s trying to be threatening he sounds ruminative, as if he’s thinking out the safest way to kick your ass. He’s gained maturity, maybe even some wisdom, but he isn’t sure what to do with it. Eminem meanwhile, clean and sober but with a voice that makes him sound permanently pissed, throws maturity out the window. His rap is seriously insane—no, you can’t have any of his fritos; yes, A&W hot dogs are the best—and all of it is apparently addressed to Sarah Palin. While T.I. is back in jail, pondering, Eminem is a free man getting his roar back.

Glee Cast
“Baby, It’s Cold Outside”, #57
“Welcome Christmas”, #59

Adele—”Rolling In the Deep”
#68
Adele has a voice, but she takes too much pleasure in showing it off, and doesn’t understand that to really show it off she needs strong songs. This is not a strong song; it’s barely a song at all.

Chris Brown—”No Bullshit”
#89
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 12/12/10

Dev & The Cataracs—”Bass Down Low”
#94
As if to prove my theory of last week regarding Far*East Movement’s dependence on their guests, here come Dev & The Cataracs with a record that’s essentially a remake of “Like a G6″. Dev is a real find, Ke$ha with added hip-hop cool (if she’s drunk you’d never know it), Fergie without pretensions to diva-hood. The music is Black Eyed Peas without the minimalist/intellectual gloss, more street and more club at the same time. Who knows how many of these they have in them, so grab it while you can.

Jamie Foxx—”Fall For Your Type”
#95
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 12/12/10

Bubbling Under:

Taio Cruz—”Higher”
There are far worse things than mindless dance music, and in this particular genre I’m starting to like Cruz more than Flo Rida, whose gift for hooks is starting to fade. Cruz’s gift for hooks is just warming up, and I’m impressed by his voice: he hits notes that would be in the falsetto range for anyone else with no apparent strain (and though it may just be the suggestiveness of the title, there are times when this really does remind me of Jackie Wilson). The arrangement is busy, but even that makes a certain sense: the pressurized feeling of dancehall transferred to hip-hop influenced disco. As music for listening, it’s too simple, but for dancing it’s perfect.

Mariah Carey—”Oh Santa!”
Overstuffed with Christmas cheer as it may be, this is so silly and charming and energetic that it can be forgiven the overkill. Carey is trying too hard, but somehow it all works: cheerleader chants, soul choruses, lyrics that are both artless and endearing (“I know you’re really busy with your elves right now”), it’s got everything. Best of all, when Carey lets loose with her whacked-out theremin impersonation, she plays it for a joke. It’s the final touch of icing on a cake already covered with sugar balls, glitter, and tinsel. Merry Christmas.

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Hot 100 Roundup—12/5/10

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

Enrique Iglesius featuring Ludacris & DJ Frank E—”Tonight (I’m Fucking You)”
#18
Thanks to Cee-Lo Green, “fuck” appears to be the word of the moment, and Iglesius has as much right to it as any, I suppose. But with his soft, sensitive, sometimes wispy loverman voice, he doesn’t sound all that convincing, and Ludacris is just cashing a check. DJ Frank E, however, engages in some serious fucking with the listeners’ ears. Those random-seeming synthesizer swoops and giggles are the sole reason to pay any real attention to this record. They start to sound calculated after a while, but they liven things up nonetheless.

Glee Cast
“Mary You”, #32
“Just the Way You Are”, #40

Kanye West
“Dark Fantasy” (featuring Teyana Taylor, Nicki Minaj & Bon Iver), #60
“All Of the Lights”, #92
I’m still making up my mind about “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”. There are great things on it, and West has created an interesting amalgam of his earlier style and the stuff he experimented with on his last two albums. There’s no doubt the result is challenging (which is why I still haven’t made up my mind), but I’m not sure it’s as great as people make it out to be. For one thing, it seems to relate the same basic idea over and over again, and then drag out the tracks in ways that don’t always expand the idea so much as minutely modify it. And sometimes it sounds as clunky as the title. I love the chorus on “Dark Fantasy” and how the choir is both beautiful and ragged at the same time, and “All Of the Lights” is so perfect in its structure and lyrical detail that I feel like a jerk for complaining of its obscure message. But for some reason these songs, and the album as a whole, aren’t coming together for me. Maybe they’re not intended to, but that doesn’t mean it’s a success, either.

Diddy – Dirty Money featuring Skylar Grey—”Coming Home
#61
I know it would be more expensive, but if you’re going to cut a track that’s a straight stylistic rip-off of T.I. and Kanye West, shouldn’t you invite them to contribute a verse or two?

Christina Aguilera—”Show Me How You Burlesque”
#70
For me, the intro to this record epitomizes everything that’s wrong with Aguilera. She not only oversings, but overthinks her oversinging. What’s worse, the lyrics have no music or poetry to them, they’re lifeless hunks of words designed solely for Aguilera to belt. The rest is a little better, but not much. Whatever this is, though, it isn’t burlesque. Burlesque is all about the tease; this is the equivalent of some two-bit hot mama thrusting her cleavage into your face and shouting “Does that turn you on, baby?!”

Keri Hilson—”Pretty Girl Rock”
#72
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 11/28/10

David Guetta featuring Rihanna—”Who’s That Chick?”
#73
Bearable for Guetta, mid-level for Rihanna. I do like it’s classic disco vibe: it could be the theme song for some cheesy early-eighties romantic comedy. Though now that I think about it, that’s not much of a compliment, is it?

Nicki Minaj featuring Rihanna—”Fly”
#76
Did I compare Minaj to Cyndi Lauper? Maybe I meant Journey.

Bruno Mars—”Marry You”
#91
It’s irresistible records like this that make you think Mars’s career might amount to something after all. Not only is the music catchy and good-humored, but for the first time since “Nothin’ On You” the lyrics are a perfect match. That’s possibly because he’s not trying to say anything too romantic or serious, which only convinces you that he loves the girl even more. This is so good I don’t even mind that it only made the charts because it was featured on Glee. OK, I do mind, but what the hell.

Ke$ha—”Crazy Beautiful Life”
#93
More homilies and affirmations for drunk party girls. How much you wanna bet the next album includes a ballad?

Billy Currington—”Let Me Down Easy”
#97
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 11/28/10

Sick Puppies—”Maybe”
#100
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 11/21/10

Bubbling Under:

Nicki Minaj featuring Drake—”Moment 4 Life”
#101
Minaj is a talent, but all the evidence points to her having already betrayed it. I haven’t heard Pink Friday yet, but as I understand it half the album is made up of this kind of dreck (which Minaj would rhyme with Drake if she had any sense). Even if it was a better record, though, the simple fact is that this and “Fly” are only making the charts because of the names of the guests. What a depressing business.

Christina Aguilera—”Express”
#102
The mix of brass and electronic fuzz might be interesting if they were actually mixed instead of being consigned to different sections. But that wouldn’t make it a decent song, or prevent Aguilera from shouting to the rooftops.

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Hot 100 Roundup—11/28/10

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

Glee Cast
“Forget You” (featuring Gwyneth Paltrow), #11
“Singing In the Rain/Umbrella” (featuring Gwyneth Paltrow), #18

Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg and Akon—“Kush”
#49
When a guy spends over a decade making a record about how wonderful dope is, it’s impossible to miss the ironic disconnect. Which isn’t to suggest that Dre is unaware of that irony himself: this is bouncy, funny, and celebratory in all the right ways. As always, Snoop gets off the best lines (“tight as the pants on will.i.am”). Dre has tricks of his own, though, including one of the slyest musical jokes I’ve ever heard, where the piano figure at the end starts coming apart as if it were being played by a stoner searching the keys for notes he could swear he knew just a minute ago.

Rihanna—“S&M”
#53
Having said in interviews that she’s tired of people paying attention only to the dark side of her music, Rihanna opens her new album with a chorus that includes the borrowed joke “Stick and stones may break my bones/But chains and whips excite me”. Mind you, S&M isn’t as dark or taboo as it used to be (though shouldn’t she at least have given us her safe word?), but considering Rihanna’s very public past in regard to sexual relationships, it seems an odd choice at best, a blatant cashing in at worst. This isn’t a bad record, but I find myself hesitant to learn anything else about Rihanna’s sex life, real or imagined. At the same time I keep flashing on Amy Rigby’s song “Year of the Fling”, about a woman who suddenly finds herself enmeshed in the BDSM scene: “At the peak of her binge/A twinge of fear came to unnerve her/But she mastered that/And it served to pervert her further”. What Rihanna went through was horrible and no doubt traumatic, but did surviving it really make her any stronger?

Nelly and Keri Hilson—“Liv Tonight”
#75
I don’t know if it’s this record in particular, or just their overwhelming presence on the charts these days, but I’m beginning to feel as tired of kick drums as I am of electric guitars, if only because they trap artists in a remorseless groove when they might be better off with more rhythmic freedom. That’s certainly true of Hilson, though I have my doubts about Nelly.

Michael Jackson & Akon—“Hold My Hand”
#84
I can understand why people wondered about the vocals on Jackson’s posthumous recordings: he does sound different, though it’s largely because he’s singing in a lower key—his voice was aging, and except for brief exclamations he couldn’t hit those high notes the way he used to. The phrasing, however, is undeniably Jackson, even if it is just an echo of his glory days. What’s more disappointing is his general lack of presence; most likely he hadn’t finished this when he died, but there’s still too much Akon and not enough MJ. What’s more fascinating, and a little creepy, is the homoerotic subtext that runs though the song. I mean, who are these guys singing to? Some unidentified woman? The world in general? Each other? The record is credited as a duet, after all. Who knows? That’s MJ for you—even posthumously, he’s the weirdest guy in the room.

Train—“Marry Me”
#95
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 11/21/10

Ke$ha—“Blow”
#97
The problem with Ke$ha’s records isn’t that they’re loud and dumb, it’s that she isn’t prepared to go all the way with the concept. When she says that she and her friends are young and bored, it’s a distancing effect that she probably thinks gives the song some sort of satirical meaning and depth. All it does, though, is cement her image as a privileged “artiste” who’s slumming all the way to the bank.

Flo Rida—“Turn Around (5,4,3,2,1)”
#98
Despite the evidence of his previous records, Flo Rida does not live and die by the hook; he lives and dies by propulsive forward motion, so much so that this time he seems to have lost the hook somewhere back on the track. Maybe he should ask Bruno Mars for another one; he’s bound to have a few lying around.

Bubbling Under:

Keri Hilson—“Pretty Girl Rock”
#102
Hilson is an interesting case. Her guest spots can seem anonymous (as in “Liv Tonight”), but her own records are defiantly idiosyncratic, always coming out of somewhere that seems familiar but with a twist that makes them difficult to trace. This one appears to borrow ideas from relatively obscure female artists like Santigold, Lil Jackie, and VV Brown, and at times almost sounds like a tribute record. At the same time it never sounds like anyone but Hilson. At least it would if I could be sure of exactly what Hilson sounds like. I’m still not sure she’s a major talent, but she’s certainly an intriguing one.

Billy Currington—“Let Me Down Easy”
#103
Currington doesn’t have an original bone in his body or thought in his head, but that doesn’t mean he can’t sound classier or more sophisticated than his country-heartthrob competition. He seems like a genuinely nice, laid-back sort of guy. In other words, he’s an old-school country careerist, and if sometimes he’s a little boring, well, that just comes with the territory.

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