Posts Tagged ‘Kelly Rowland’

Bubbling Under, 8/13/11

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Big Time Rush featuring Iyaz—”If I Ruled the World”
#106
The line between teen TV soundtrack music and mainstream pop is now so thin that if it wasn’t for the strained actor’s vocals this would be inseparable from any other pop song with Iyaz on it. In other words, don’t write this off just because it’s for tweens, write it off because it’s mediocre—catchy mediocre.

Ronnie Dunn—”Cost of Livin’”
#107
I’ve never much cared for Dunn, either with his ex-partner or on his own, but this is a near masterpiece. For the most part the lyrics avoid sentimentality, and also politics, sticking only to the essential points and details. Meanwhile the music, dry and precise, drives home the emotional point. The bridge is devastating. I wish Dunn had a better voice, or could make it a bit less plaintive, but that’s a minor quibble. I doubt he’ll ever do anything better.

Eric Church—”Drink In My Hand”
#109
I heard a lot of promise in Church’s first few singles, and though I can’t say this fulfills them all, it comes close. This sounds ordinary at first, but it grows on you fast, and Church shows some interesting flashes of where his inspiration comes from: parts of this sound a lot like Dave Edmunds and Rockpile. Which means it’s more like intelligently recycled rock and roll than country. But then who (besides Ashton Shepard) knows what country is anymore?

Kelly Rowland featuring Big Sean—”Lay It On Me”
#114
Big Sean’s rap on the intro, where he fantasizes about Rowland in a schoolgirl porn outfit, is enough to make me reject this record from the start, and Rowland, who seemed to be onto something with “Motivation”, does nothing to improve matters. And then Big Sean comes back.

Swedish House Mafia—”Save the World”
#117
Whose house again? Journey’s?

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Hot 100 Roundup—4/30/11

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

Lady Gaga—”Judas”
#10
I was preparing a long critique of this record, but after another listen and a more concentrated perusal of the lyrics I decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. “Judas” is such a confused mess that whatever message Gaga is trying to get across is lost in the rehashed disco, rehashed Abba, and rehashed “Bad Romance”. Whether she seized upon the idea of Judas as symbol or allegory (of what?), or as justification (of whose sins?) is impossible to tell (I lean toward Judas representing fame, or maybe the record industry, but the song itself doesn’t provide any clues). She may well be talking to herself more than anybody else, and though her moral confusion is interesting up to a point, it isn’t what I would call fascinating. Gaga may be an instinctual genius, and at the artistic and intellectual level she’s achieved a sort of middlebrow perfection, but if she wants to go any higher—and she does—she’s going to need to think things out a little more, and I’m not sure she’s capable of that.

Kelly Rowland featuring Lil Wayne—”Motivation”
#55
Sex is an everyday feature on the pop charts, but true eroticism is rare. Soul crooners like Ne-yo and Lloyd come close, but you’d have to go much further back to find anything comparable to this, which is guaranteed to make you either melt into a puddle or stand up at attention, depending on your gender/preference. Lil Wayne is in top form, keeping his rap focused and throwing in some subtle cunnilingus references. For the most part, though, this record is all Rowland’s, and after various miscues and less than stellar guest appearances since the demise of Destiny’s Child, she deserves it.

Game featuring Lil Wayne—”Red Nation”
#62
So Lil Wayne gets to appear on both the best and the worst debuts of the week. Can’t say he’s hasn’t got all his bases covered.

Chris Brown—”She Ain’t You”
#90
With it’s sample from “Human Nature” this is being pegged as a Michael Jackson tribute, which makes me wonder why Brown sounds so much like Stevie Wonder on the first verse. Whatever the case, this is well below even Brown’s recent output, much less his models. Sounds a lot like the junk he put out as a teenager.

Hot Chelle Rae—”Tonight Tonight”
#93
Reviewed in Bubbling Under, 4/16/11

Bridgit Mendler—”Determinate”
#94
Just when it looked like Disney was going to allow Nickelodeon to claim the tween-pop crown, they come roaring back with new singers, a relatively new production team (TWIN, a pair of Swedes who have worked together for nearly a decade without having any big hits), and a sound that is both more mature and overtly powerful than much of the Disney pop that preceded it. Even the rap is OK, or at least not embarrassing. And “determinate” itself seems such a perfect pop term I’m surprised it hasn’t been used before.

Jake Owen—”Barefoot Blue Jean Night”
#96
The production is a surprise, at least for a country record, but the song itself isn’t. No doubt the arrangement is intended to make up for that, though it may also be intended to cover up the relative weakness of Owen’s voice, which can be expressive but isn’t as rich as many of his contemporaries. It doesn’t quite work, but I appreciate the experimentation.

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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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New this week

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

New Boyz–”You’re A Jerk”
#33
If you haven’t been prepped by Soulja Boy to love minimalist nonsense like this, then there must be something the matter with you. Sure it’s a novelty record, but it’s also part of a growing trend of suburban teenagers building beats on their laptops that’s as much a form of folk music as guys with guitars singing the blues or DJs spinning discs in the rec halls and playgrounds of Brooklyn and the Bronx. In a few years they may very well take over the world. Write them off at your peril. You could end up an even bigger jerk than they are.

Pitbull–”Hotel Room Service”
#63
“I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” is dumb and catchy. This is just dumb.

All Time Low–”Damned If I Do Ya (Damned If I Don’t)”
#67
A canny mixture of hair metal, Cheap Trick, and Weezer’s “Buddy Holly”, this is my kind of punk-pop pastiche: unoriginal but energetic, without the overloaded sense of importance and lack of hooks that ruins the Jonas Brothers records. Totally unimportant, and they’ll probably never have another hit, but fun all the same.

Jonas Brothers–”Fly With Me”
#83
The bombast here may be testimony to their sense of self-importance, but it may also be testimony to their realization that this song has not much melody and zero hook. Or it could be both, since only someone who thought too highly of themselves would try to rescue a song that so obviously should have been scrapped.

Mario featuring Gucci Mane and Sean Garrett–”Break Up”
#98
This collage of what sounds like three or four different sessions has some gorgeous pieces, but they don’t quite fit together, and the record as a whole is a mess. Can someone explain to me why Gucci Mane has become as omnipresent a guest as Lil Wayne, when he possesses one tenth of the talent?

David Guetta featuring Kelly Rowland–”When Love Takes Over”
#100
I’ve enjoyed a lot of the r&b/techno merges I’ve heard over the last few years, but this is too bland. Guetta’s music is all techno cliche, and as for Rowland, there’s a reason Beyonce was the breakout star from Destiny’s Child, and it wasn’t just because her father was the manager.

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