I’ve never been the world’s biggest Britney Spears fan, but I have this desire to hear her new album, Circus (which should not be confused with my desire to spend money on it, something I don’t have). Maybe it’s the fact that Britney’s bounced back after her hellacious year and looks better than ever on the cover (how shallow). Maybe it’s that tons of people whose opinions I respect have given the album good reviews (including one review you’ll find later this week). Perhaps it’s the fact that the two songs I’ve heard so far have been not-awful-Womanizer has actually grown on me a little bit. Whichever way, I’m gonna try to get my grubby little mitts on a copy if I can find it for cheap (or free).
Which brings us to the point of this whole post-Miss Spears’ brand new video. It’s for the title track of Circus, and it’s certainly a feast for the eyes. There’s a lot going on, and thankfully Britney actually goes with a circus theme here. It’s certainly worth checking out for the production values, even if you don’t particularly care for the song itself.
In this day and age, I buy albums thinking that there’s just as good of a chance that I’ll be disappointed in my purchase as there is that I’ll be pleased. It’s great to have artists like Ne-Yo who continue to strive to outdo themselves. I really didn’t catch on until after his first album In My Own Words. I knew the singles, but didn’t really get into him until his second album Because Of You (which I liked far more than Money Mike did). What I’ve learned that I enjoy about Ne-Yo is that he’s found a way to balance good lyricism that’s easy to sing along to with catchy hooks. A lot of times, in order to get on the radio, you have to give up the ability to actual write good songs. He’s been able to master both. And this album is his coming out party.
I’m a sucker for love songs.
It’s just who I am. I’d rather hear a killer ballad that touches me than almost any other kind of song. The Year Of The Gentlemen is right in my wheel house. If that isn’t your cup of tea, you might not like this album as much as I do. But you can’t deny his ability to emote honestly through his music. Unless Ne-Yo is just channeling certain feelings and writing stories, the guy’s heart was definitely broken. Many of the songs are about broken relationships and how much he’s screwed up and the regret that comes with it. Mad is a simple, yet effective piano ballad about the simplistic idiocy of most fights that couples have. Fade Into The Background has a bit of a funkier sound and only features a glimmer of piano, but is just a great narrative. The love of his life is getting married to another man and he’s at the wedding. And rather than fight for her, he’ll fade into the background.
She looks so good in that white dress
At the far end of the aisle
Standing where I should be standing
Some other man on his face there’s a smile
I just walked in sat down silent
I stood outside for awhile
Wondering why did I come here
Face it you messed up and now she’s with somebody else
I’ve gone through something similar, though not in the same way, so it reads a bit true to me, but it’s just the way he puts his regretful emotion into it that makes the song work. Lie To Me might be just a bit overly dramatic, but he gets at a very strong feeling that couples go through, and it’s sung from the male perspective. I don’t want to know what I know to be true/What I need you to do, tell me another lie.
He’s a pop genius.
I guess the word genius might be a little too much. But you have to give credit where credit is do. He’s been apart of so many hit singles over the last few years that you can’t listen to the radio today without hearing something he’s touched. But he still saved some of his best for his album. He didn’t give it all away.
The album opener and lead single Closer is Ne-Yo unlike we’ve heard him. It’s more club song than love song and features great Stargate production. You can tell it’s Stargate, but they take their signature sound to another level. Single is the same song featured on the New Kids On The Block album but he’s the only featured singer on this version. Sorry Joey Mac fans, this one’s all Ne-Yo. While it’s missing some of that New Kids charm, it features that same great harmonic sound. Nobody is his one ode to Michael Jackson on this album. He should’ve given it to Michael and it could’ve been a hit record. It features all of the crazy vocal sounds that MJ uses and he tries to sing it exactly like the man. He even uses an old MJ phrase as he sings, “Pretty mama,” in the same falsetto MJ does.
What’s different about this album from his previous two?
There’s a different vibe and confidence to his music. While every artist should strive to make that record that you can play all the way through without skipping, Ne-Yo succeeds at doing just that. It’s the one album that I’ve bought this year that I don’t have to skip through at all. He took a theme which was to show that guys can still put women on pedestals and do it in a classy way, and ran with it. It’s not weak to love your girl the right way. He’s not talking about how he’s going to sex his girl down. He’s talking about how proud he is of her for doing her own thing. Miss Independent should be included in the book of how to make meaningful songs that people can relate to. He might be one of the only guys to create a song based around the idea of a woman who walks like the boss and talks like the boss that doesn’t turn either the male or female audience off.
She got her own thing
That’s why I love her
(Anyone notice the ode to Boomerang at the beginning of the video? Or really, the theme of the video. Starring Gabrielle Union as Jacqueline Broyer …)
This guy speaks my language and if I were as talented as he, I’d have written these exact songs. My money is on Ne-Yo being one of the most respected artists of this generation. I hope next year is the year of the gentlemen too.
Hey Folks, I’ve been asking for volunteers to put their iPods on shuffle and let me know what they’re listening to (in totally random fashion, of course), and lo and behold, somebody bit!
Ladies & Gentlemen, coming straight out of the Jersey suburbs, here’s my boy Kyle, taking over the Sunday Shuffle from me. Kyle is a full-on hip-hop head, although he’s also enjoyed music by everyone from John Mayer to Ben Folds (which means that this is someone who has damn good taste in music similar tastes in music to mine). Take it away, Kyle!!
Aight, since my iPod lacks a working skip button thanks to a dumb decision I once made to listen to it during a long walk during a rainy vacation day I was thinking about listening via iTunes, but decided I might as well just listen to it through my iHome. There are plenty of times I skip songs just to get to ones I wanna hear, so I am not doing that today.
“Puppy Chow” – Common: Maybe it’s finally time I try to write a review of “Can I Borrow A Dollar?” (although one of these days I also have to do “One Day It’ll All Make Sense”.) I’m sure as of now there are plenty of people ready and willing to write an essay comprising 24 paragraphs about how and why Common has fallen off (even though I’m worried about his new album too) but I won’t go into detail about that right now, I’ll fight temptation. This song is fun and has a lot of Common’s hard-to-describe old style, but it’s definitely not as memorable as some of my favorite tracks on his debut.
“Electric Relaxation” – A Tribe Called Quest: I’ve been meaning to pull out my copy of “The Low End Theory” for weeks (although I do think “Midnight Marauders” is better.) My opinion of this song is no different from any other big hip-hop head/Tribe fan, and it also has a classic Phife Dawg punchline, great stories from both emcees (I’m relistening to Q-Tip’s November solo album to see how much I like it) and I accidentally once found out the actual words they say in the chorus. There’s actually been a remake of the song by producer Marco Polo and J*Davey (that I thought wasn’t too good) and I think it’s also been sampled a few times in hip-hop songs as well. Probably the best song on their best album.
“Mama Had A Baby And It’s Head Popped Off” – Atmosphere: Not my favorite Atmosphere song (off my favorite Atmosphere album – their debut “Lucy Ford”.) It’s got some interesting lyrics from Slug regarding God and politics, but the beat is just sinister and not something I really like. I don’t know what else to say about this one…wish a better song from them came up here.
“The Definition” – DJ Jazzy Jeff & Kel Spencer: The emcee Kel Spencer (ed.: Isn’t Kel Spencer the dude who was on “All That” with Kenan Thompson back in the 90s?) raps over some pianos and DJ scratches here about observing the bad habits and trends perpetuated by wack emcees around him, and how he doesn’t like being overlooked by them. Jeff’s last album, “The Return of the Magnificent” was started off by lesser-known rappers like Kel (that has so far been the only time I’ve heard him) but still was one of 2007’s best, and perfect to listen to during a long-ass road trip (the album concept was that Jeff was forced to listen to the radio during a trip between Philly and Florida because there was no CD changer in his rent-a-car.)
“Final Frontier” – Blueprint & RJD2: I want Soul Position to release another album, and I also want to know whether or not it has been confirmed that RJD2 is no longer doing hip-hop producing. This is kind of a tough song to describe thanks to Blueprint’s unusual lyrics, which some people could say are obviously pretentious. Blueprint also needs to release another album – it’s been pushed back for years. He’s done better than this song, but it’s still enjoyable (although the best performance on “Deadringer”, RJ’s first album which this is on, is from Copywrite on “June”…but that’s another story.)
“American Dreamin” – Jay-Z: This song is kinda moody. Jay rhymes about trying his hardest in the New York grind he’s detailing, and he sounds good throughout the whole song (even though there are many other tracks I’d rather listen to from “American Gangster”.) Considering Nas and Kanye West dropped great albums I was really anxious about this year, hopefully Jay will next year.
“Inherited Scars” – Sage Francis: Damn, had to end this on a depressing note. And I’ve been in a decent mood today so far too. He’s an easy artist to play when you want self-pity or are reflecting about your life’s misfortunes, but here he’s kinda vulnerable, talking about a secret his sister told him about a deadly habit of hers and is not sure what to do about the situation. The lyrics are fantastic as is the message, and he details what he’s feeling and what he expects his sister is feeling, hoping for empathy from her side. I’m gonna have to listen to some more happy music soon.
There ya go, folks. Thanks Kyle, for sharing at least a portion of your music collection with us. Now that someone has thrown down the gauntlet. Anyone else wanna share? You know where to find me.
