So as I hinted in "Step Back in Time" blog, we have a massive week of new music to look at courtesy of the last of the members of One Direction stepping out on his own, a former 5th Harmony member releases her first song as a solo act and we have another new single from Katy Perry but this time she has help from Nicki Minaj so let's get stuck into it beginning with the latest from a former boyband member.
Song: Strip That Down
Artist: Liam Payne featuring Quavo (officially...unofficially also contains Ed Sheeran)
It's not like Quavo isn't over exposed at the moment is it? Seems like he is the one member of Migos that nearly everyone in pop music currently wants to work with, although to be fair, he only makes a relatively short appearance on this debut from former One Direction member Liam Payne, a Justin Timberlake merged with Ed Sheeran pop song which is no surprise given Ed recorded backing vocals,
The only real let down is the gang vocals in the background, if its meant to be sexy, the gang vocals are about the least sexiest thing I can think of.
As for the controversy over the line "You know, I used to be in 1D. (Now I'm out, free). People want me for one thing (that's not me)". I suspect the line is more a stab at One Direction's management rather than dissing One Direction itself, only have to read Zayn Malik's interview in regard to life in the band and how the band members were not allowed to be themselves in their songs but One Direction fans need to take one under the tongue and calm down, hardly the biggest deal ever considering Chris Brown is releasing songs that are charting with lyrics like "Licking your private parts", a line about One Direction's management is hardly anything to bleat about.
Rating: The gang vocals kill the sexiness of this song for me. Ehh. Gets a pass. 6/10
Song: Swish Swish
Artist(s): Katy feat. Nick Minaj
Does it seem like Katy Perry's record label are hitting the panic button here to you? This is the third song released from upcoming fourth album entitled Witness released in a relatively short space of time especially after the trainwreck that was Bon Appetit which debuted at number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100 and exited the next week, Ouch.
So anyway Katy has teamed up with Nicki Minaj and yeah, its got nothing to do with windscreen wipers on a bus, its pretty much a diss track where both a bored sounding Perry and Minaj call out those they have issues with, in fact you could argue that it's Perry 's reply to Taylor Swift's not particularly good 2015 hit "Bad Blood" and really I am not sure this is any better than what Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar offered up on "Bad Blood" especially considering I can barely hear Perry over the production in the chorus and I suspect 'bish' is a slurred "Bitch" because they needed something to rhyme with 'swish'. Its just lazy, at least Nicki sounds reasonably on form which kind of saves this song from being an all out train wreck in terms of the lyrics and production.
Rating: It's marginally better than Bon Appetit but man, I am worried about this new album from Katy especially given it took a guest vocal to save this song. 5/10
Song: Bad Liar
Artist: Selena Gomez
If there was one artist that I'd least expect to hear a Talking Heads sample during one of their songs, it would have to be Selena Gomez. Now of any new song this week, "Bad Liar" is actually interesting for its sounds that don't embrace the current boring trend in pop music which is an over pedance of trap sounds, synth and singing smothered in autotune.
Gomez has sampled "Psycho Killer" for "Bad Liar" which is a surprisingly introspective song about struggling to conceal her feelings for somebody and her frustration when she can't and vocally reminds me of "Marlena" by Suzanne Vega.
Rating: It works for me, is different to a lot of what is on the charts right now and got a nod of approval from David Byrne so what more can you ask for? 8/10
Song: Crying in the Club
Artist: Camila Cabello
I got to be honest I wasn't hanging out for this song or the return of former 5th Harmony member Camila Cabello, I wasn't impressed with her collaboration with Machine Gun Kelly (who is currently being widely panned for his new album 'Bloom') entitled "Bad Things" which blatantly ripped off Fastball so quite honestly there were other releases I was looking forward to more so than "Crying in the Club"
But because it is one of the bigger releases this week and likely to be on the chart next week, I may as well review it so how does "Crying In the Club" turn out? It's self esteem anthem that's been done time and time again to the point of being boring and to be bluntly honest it sounds like a 2015/16 offcut from Sia's last album that she decided wasn't worth putting on the album so gave it to Camila Cabello to release as her first single as a solo artist.
Next song please.
Rating: 3/10
Song: The Way I Are (Dance with Somebody)
Artist(s): Bebe Rexha feat. Lil Wayne.
What's with all the references in songs to Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown in songs lately? Its a bit disturbing considering how abuse that relationship was but it seems that Rexha is playing off Whitney Houston's 1987 hit "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" in the lyrics for this song as a bit of a shot at her record label and about being comfortable with yourself.
It's actually a good song when Bebe sings but when Lil Wayne joins in....oh boy...his verse references Bobby Brown and then goes into luring a girl back home with him for sex with one clusterfuck of a lyric "Kiss both boobs before I sign them". What the hell?
Rating: I think if Bebe was to release a version of this song without Lil Wayne's involvement, I might like this a little more but as it is 6/10
Song: Switch
Artist(s): Iggy Azalea feat. Anitta
After the shocker that was "Mo Bounce", Iggy Azalea has followed up with a MASSIVE improvement called "Switch". Yeah it contains Iggy bragging but it kind of makes sense when you read what the song is about which taking control of your own life.
Not convinced that Iggy can rap but this song is actually reasonably good.
Rating: 6/10
Song: How to Boil an Egg
Artist: Courtney Barnett
Courtney Barnett is back with a cracking song called "How Boil an Egg" which she used to sing when she was 21 and is seemingly an offcut but damn its a good song complete with an electric guitar. In amongst a lot of nonsense this week, I'll gladly listen to this while I boil an egg.
Rating: 8/10
Other songs to look out for
"The Line" by RAYE (Genuinely good song. Check it out when you have the chance. 8/10)
"Hook, Line and Sinker" by Royal Blood (Not as good as "Light out" but I'll take it 6/10)
"Lonely" by Casey Donavan (Yes that Casey Donavan is back with a pretty decent new song 7/10)
"Woodstock in my Mind" by Lana Del Ray (Her take on politics. Meh. 5/10)
Best song: I'm going to give it to "How to boil an egg" by Courtney Barnett in a tie with "Bad Liar" by Selena Gomez.
Worst song: "Crying In the Club" by Camila Cabello. Its not bad per se but its a bit derivative of Sia and not something that says what Camila is going to be as an artist (She has claimed that will be her next single but why not make that statement with your first single? It's a weird strategy she and her record label have going.
Next week
New Rita Ora single called "Your Song", Pia Mia has teamed up with Jeremih for "I'm a Fan". Beyond that who knows?
See you later tonight for the ARIA chart top ten, hoping beyond hope that we have a new number one.
No comments:
Post a Comment