Posts tagged Rihanna
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I Thought Only Boys Dubsteped?!
DUBSTEP! Rihanna with her album Rated R can take credit as one the first US pop star to really have some strong Dubstep influence in their music. Since then, Britney Spears released a pretty good dubstep influenced pop album last year in Femme Fataleand all of the stuff that has happened on this chart has lead to Dubstep being the next big thing people are stumbling over themselves to cover. Last year, I wrote about the slight dubstepiness of “On the Floor” by Jennifer Lopez, and here is a quick update on that idea looking at “Love You Like a Love Song”, “You Da One”, and some general ideas on the Skrillex.
“Love You Like A Love Song” by Selena Gomez is hard to exactly figure out how popular the song truly is, as it came out last summer, but it took some time for it to gain a moderate amount of radio buzz. So, maybe it took some time for the rest of the world to appreciate the bass oddness instead of finding it off putting. It’s a love song about love songs and with an odd pairing of some of the glossiest vocals I’ve heard in a pop song in recent memory with over active bass sounds. But, considering how loose the definition of dubstep has gotten in the last few years that is still enough for music writers (this one included) to say that there is dubstep influence in the song and one of the better ones with roots in pop music to get that distinction.
Dubstep went from something so under-covered in music circles, I’d bet a year ago most music critics would have been asking “What is a Skrillex?” while mocking those people who were saying “Who is Arcade Fire?” after their Grammy victory. But, where we stand now, dubstep is the music of the young people that must be covered. So, great writers are now wrestling with the music of Skrillex and other more American based Dubstep producers, whose names are usually never mentioned in Dubstep articles, because Skrillex serves to be the head of this second electronic music revolution and conveniently the only one most writers can name.
Not to be too crabby, but when I first heard Skrillex more than a year and half ago I thought he was garbage, so seeing people stumbling over themselves to praise the man is strange to say the least. Which accounts for the name of this article, because early on Dubstep pieces would characterize it as music for bros to mosh out and go crazy to, which while not untrue as people started to pay more attention to the music, it became obvious this was music both genders equally enjoyed. Also, for all of the Grammy nominations and sold out shows that Skrillex will play, the way that dubstep is entering the mainstream is through female artists, who take some dubstep elements are work them into their music far better than Skrillex and his peers (Flux Pavilion, Zeds Dead, Nero, and a the UKF group if you want some other examples of this stuff).
“You Da One” is a weird Rihanna single still trying to find another life to eventually top the charts like so many of her songs have already. Yet, focusing on bass drops in dubstep, quickly loses the fact the drums of most dubstep songs have an instantly recognizable slowed up lurch compared to other more bland four on the floor pound of most pop songs on the radio today. That is the most notable dubstepish part of “You Da One”, as while the bass is noticeable the drum pattern is what gives the anticipation of a bass drop eventually happening, even if it doesn’t really happen. I don’t really enjoy too many Skrillex or Rusko (supposed originator of this Bro-step style) dubstep songs that are heavy on bass drop and not much else, but considering they are probably the reason a songs like “You Da One” or “Love You Like A Love Song” were even considered for a major label means I will begrudgingly accept their place in the world.
We Found Love - Rihanna (feat. Calvin Harris)
“Only Girl (In the World)” one of my favorite songs from 2010 was reaffirmed when I heard it at a party the last weekend at school, and could not have been happier to hear the song again. The song puts a hysterical grin on my face, as I have to bob my head along with the overly striking drums and hold back my arms from starting an overly excited fist pump. ”We Found Love” doesn’t inspire that kind of reaction; it is just another Europop styled early 2010s pop song that has done Rihanna better with “Distrubia” and “Only Girl”. The best song at best is a 3rd rate version of a song she has already perfected, yet it has hit number one on Billboard slots across the world. If Rihanna could have more to do than just say “We Found Love”, I’d probably join the crowd that pushed the song to the top of charts, and if Calvin Harris production didn’t sound as unoriginal and bland as it does I’d also have kind words to write about him. The song is mediocre, yet I’ve played it dozens of times and don’t plan on stopping.
You Be Killin Em - Fabolous (prod. by Ryan Leslie)
The new year is already in its second day, and after being home on break for a few weeks getting reacquainted with WPEG (Power 98) and the other radio stations here, with a new year beginning I have been wondering what are some songs that are about to start climbing up and breaking through the charts. The year has only begun so I hope I wouldn’t already know the trends that will be dominating the radio this year, but here are some songs that hopefully will continue to get more radio play and increased exposure.
Normally, when people say that all songs on the radio sound the same, I would disagree, but last year with so many song produced by Dr. Luke, David Guetta, and far too many rap and R&B songs featuring Nicki Minaj and Drake, I would not so easily dismiss that statement. So, the first song I was wanted to point out “Raining Men” by Rihanna (feat. Nicki Minaj) is not bucking that trend. I already wrote about the song, and it might only be getting play on Power 98, but that is not stopping me from hoping this song gets play beyond the airwaves of Power 98. Admittedly, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj’s albums have had plenty of non-singles receive airplay, so this could just be me hoping a song like “Speakin in Tongues” catches on with a wider audience which it sort of did. (sort of…)
“Grove Street Party” by Waka Flocka Flame (feat. Kebo Gotti) is in a similar place, because I have only noticed this getting play on WTHA in Atlanta, which means it could just be one of the many songs that only gets play on local stations, and it when you actually look up the song to only discover that it was only popular in your city. I thought the same was true of “No Hands”, when it first came out I only heard it on that station, and it eventually became the biggest hit for all of the artists on the song. “Grove Street Party” is probably the best song on Flockaveli to be on the radio, as it has the word “Party” in the title, and 2010 was full of plenty of songs speaking of the ”club” or “party” as if they were new exciting ideas. The production of Lex Luger on the song is also not as mean or foreboding as his other songs, which I would think get it to be more popular, but then again “B.M.F.” isn’t exactly cheery and welcoming.
“Buzzin” by Mann (feat. 50 Cent) sounds like a throw back song that would soundtrack an embarrassing car commercial full of increasingly retro 90s references. While, it could be sound tracking that commercial, if I was told that this was Dr. Dre’s new single, I would be happy considering Dr. Dre going for a song that sounds like a remix of a 15 year old song would be better than “Kush” which sounds like plenty of rappers passed over it in 2004 for good reason. Someone who was actually alive in the late 1980s would probably be able to call out specific songs that this one is references, but since I was not even alive then I will leave that for someone else. If this lands on the Billboard 100, I say it will hit at most 52, which is not too bad for an 18 year old kid or 50 Cent in 2011.
The last song, that I want to call out is “You Be Killin Em” by Fabolous, which is already at the bottom end of the Billboard Hot 100, and I could easily see it slowly scaling the charts to something pretty respectable. Fabolous is no stranger to the Billboard top song lists, and while this is not exactly as catchy as “Throw it in the Bag”, the song is in a similar thematically with it being a rap song for the ladies except lacking The Dream handling the hook. Fabolous’ rapping is fine and charming, but it is the hook of “Girl, you be killin em” that will take the song however far it goes on the charts and in the radios of cars.
Raining Men - Rihanna (feat. Nicki Minaj)
I unknowingly bought the clean version Loud, this Friday and to see how editing was I first turned on this song, and well it is edited, but that does not mess up Nicki Minaj’s verse or the rest of the CD too much.
This year has been full of excellent Nicki Minaj guest verses, and this peticular one reminds me be most of “Monster”, where the verse sounds like it was recorded for this song, and is not giving the song a thematic 180 degree spin like “Bottoms Up” and “My Chick Bad” (I have turned around on this song, and even like ”It’s going down…basement”). So, just as Nicki Minaj’s voice is raising higher and higher, the string of rhymes of “Re Re, freely, chili” reaches its peak on ”No for real really”, which is sort questions what was just being said as if just to be sure the last few seconds of rapping had actually just happened. This question is sort of good as Nicki Minaj’s verse normally have to do with haters, money, and some very very random references, so her verses normally are twisting those ideas onto whatever song she is on seeing how well or not it fits on the song and going with it.
Today it is not too hard to hear when a guest verse is just ripped from another song or has nothing to do with the actual song it is on and is just added to have add another name on it (nearly all over packed remixes), but with Nicki Minaj the less the verse has to do with the song around it, the more the song seems to be actually focused around her. Rihanna does not lose control of this song, but Nicki Minaj lets her presence be felt in a way that not even Eminem or Drake do with their verses on Loud. As Drake’s intro on “What’s My Name” can easily be forgotten, and Eminem on “Love the Way You Lie, Pt. II” is hard to miss no matter how much I want to, while Nicki Minaj shows up compliments and slightly throws the song until Rihanna shows back up.
Duces- Chris Brown (feat. Tyga & Kevin McCall)
“Duces”, should end up pretty high on a list of my favorite songs of the year, as it is one of the easiest to recognize radio songs I have heard this year, with the synths laying the foundation of the mellow tune of the song in addition to the kicks and claps. The song is easy to standout when other R&B songs either lend too heavily on rap music production or on a track where there is almost nothing in the track besides the singer’s voice. Even despite the rapping that occurs by Tyga and even more unfortunately Kevin McCall (who is also the producer), the song’s atmosphere is hard to miss when changing stations and you hear the kicks and synths all of sudden bring down the speed of what every you were just doing. Rihanna’s single “What’s My Name”, reminds me of “Duces”, if “What’s My Name” were slowed down and a little chopped up.
