Radio Rant time! Also, I’m implementing an idea I should have had sooner today; from now on, you can click on the single cover art to listen to the song I’m covering this week.

Yep, the Black Eyed Peas are back on the menu this week. I’m not especially fired up about it, but I’m not opposed to dealing with them again. “The Time (Dirty Bit)” was a terrible song, but it didn’t really catch on in the U.S., and the Peas were soundly mocked for their lackluster Superbowl performance. As a penance, they’ve been pretty quite for awhile, so I’m ready to look at them again, even if it is with low expectations. Anyway, time to give the blandly titled “Just Can’t Get Enough” a spin.

This…this is different. Fergie’s hook is actually kinda catchy. Part of that might be that, despite will.i.am’s efforts to hide it, Fergie can actually sing. The piano behind her is a nice touch, too.

Oh, right, here comes will.i.am, slathered in Auto-Tune. I know I’ve said it before, but will.i.am has never done anything as a rapper that’s impressed me. His flow never stands out, he doesn’t have a new bend to offer to any of what he’s saying, and he often finds the dumbest ways to saying it. Let’s just pull a line or two from his verse:

“Honey got a sexy all steamin’/She givin’ hotness a new meanin’/Perfection mama you gleamin’/Inception, you got a brother dreamin’, dreamin'” A minor offense in the grand scheme of things, but “got a sexy” makes me twitch every time. And Will? Do you want to call the hot girl “Mama”? See, that happened to a guy once, and…well, it didn’t end well for him.

However, for the total shortfall that is will.i.am the Rapper, we have will.i.am the Producer. as a producer, will.i.am can be pretty hit and miss, but when he hits, it’s pretty solid. Such is the case with “Just Can’t Get Enough”, a bass-heavy slice of electronica. It’s the sound of the late night party being over, and hanging out with a few buddies afterwards; chilled out, enjoyable, and inviting. So after another round of chorus, we get another will ver–

Wait a minute. Wait one minute! Is that…yes it is…

Taboo actually gets a verse! Y’know, this guy. The one that always gets knocked for never saying anything. At least I think it’s him, his voice is so drowned out in Auto-Tune that he barely sounds any different from will.i.am. Most of his verse is…well, there’s a reason that he doesn’t get to say a lot; none of his lines really stand out, but he’s not especially bad, either. He does err towards trying too hard, though.

But overall, I’m liking this song. The chorus is good, the production is solid…hell, even the rapping’s not that bad. So far, we’re about 3/4 done with the song, and while it’s not my favorite thing, it is proving that the Peas don’t always have to be terrible. I’m content to just ride the wave until the end of the–

“This…is mega switch up”

Pardon?

Wait, what? Why is the tempo…

Oh no. No, no, no.

Are you kidding me?

Not content to let one of their singles actually be an enjoyable start-to-finish listen, “Just Can’t Get Enough” says “Fuck it” about 3/4 of the way through, and speeds up into a so-so club jam with app. de.ap (fuck whoever named this band) muttering some non-sense I can’t hear over his own Auto-Tuning. And there’s this computerized voice that keeps shouting “Switch up!”, as if to remind us that the song took a dive. “Just Can’t Get Enough” nose dives in the third act harder than Sucker Punch did, a feat I didn’t even think was possible.

About a month back, I did a Radio Rant for the Far East Movement’s “Rocketeer”, a pretty song that, while functionally inert, was still enjoyable. A lot of what I said about that song also applies to “Just Can’t Get Enough”; the chorus and production are doing all the work, the Auto-Tune is a stylistically confusing and wholly unnecessary add-on, and the rapping is bland. While the Peas’ newest trick of suturing two songs together wasn’t enough to take me off of “Just Can’t Get Enough”, it did knock the song down in my book. Still, it was a surprisingly enjoyable ride.