Album Review: Ariana Grande – My Everything

Posted on September 10, 2014 by bgibs122

Maybe it’s because we’ve had a few go’s of it now, or maybe it’s because Justin Beiber and Miley Cyrus showed us how bad things could get, but we’ve finally hit the point where teen stars can age out without a disaster happening mid-step. No one demonstrates that better than former Nickelodeon star Ariana Grande, here with her second album My Everything. Grande’s pop career had a soft opening in 2013 with the minor hit “The Way” from her debut Yours Truly, a collection of innocuous I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-Mariah pop jams that put the emphasis on Grande’s voice more than whatever she was singing. It kept her image, squeaky clean even by kid show standards, perfectly intact.

My Everything isn’t about outright destroying that image, but rather, subtly not mentioning it at all. Grande remains a sweet performer throughout, but she isn’t actively projecting innocence anymore; it takes a few listens (plus a The Weeknd cameo) to get the double entendre to “Love Me Harder”, and “Hands On Me” is less subtle with the opening tease of “Keep your hands on me/Don’t take them off/Until I say so”. By the time these two come up late in the album, they seem less shocking than an upfront presentation because by now, My Everything‘s established itself as a pop grab bag. And hey, taunting sex jams are part of pop, and Grande’s keen to play the part.

My Everything is Grande’s application as a jack of all trades pop star, and deliberately so. There’s something conscientious about these songs; without fail, there’s tailored production, tasteful writing, and ample opportunities for Grande to let loose with skyscraper vocals. It works: you really can’t fault the quality of the album on a song-by-song basis. She moves through Max Martin singles (“Problem”) and sample-heavy pop rap collabs (“Break Your Heart Right Back” with Childish Gambino) with the same sort of performance grace that’s quickly becoming her best strength and biggest weakness.

Let’s focus on the strengths first. Grande, more than most other pop artists, is able to emote and make her voice work with whatever she’s got behind her. She’s got the chops to pull off the somber effect of “Why Try” without tripping over the hip-hop drumline, and then sound playful on “Be My Baby” (produced by Cashmere Cat). The playful tracks, “Be My Baby”, “Problem”, “Hands On Me”, and “Love Me Harder” work better, since Grande can show more personality and presence with a livelier beat. She’s actually a perfect match for Zedd’s extroverted festival EDM; Grande runs full force to meet the towering synths in the chorus in a move where going big actually works. There are the requisite piano ballads–“Just a Little Bit of Your Heart” and the title track–and while they’re well performed, they’re nothing special.

That same “well done, but meh” criticism rings true for My Everything as a whole. While Grande’s a great performer, she can never sound like anything but a performer. It’s a curse that plagues a lot of stage/theater brats that turn pop at first; they’ve spent years jumping in and out of role and personas, and that learned performance-self hampers their ability to go full tilt like we expect from our pop stars (let it be known, Grande could stand to do worse). She has too much presence to disappear into a song ala Britney Spears, but too little personality to have it dominate one, ala Taylor Swift. She has trouble letting her hair down, in fewer words. Sam Smith’s avoided this problem by focusing on one type of song/sound, but Grande’s mile wide and inch deep approach doesn’t afford her the same flexibility. It doesn’t make My Everything a compelling listen.

Instead, the album’s like a gluten free vanilla cupcake: super sweet going down, and while delightful, doesn’t really beg for a repeat. It’s a well made, exceedingly well-sung record that’s only held back by tepid songwriting and pleasant but inert execution (ok, and some truly mediocre rap features). Grande does great work establishing herself as a competent pop singer, but she’s coming up short in personality and massive singles. But, this seems to be by design; My Everything‘s tasteful restraint implies Grande might be playing a longer game than we’re giving her credit. Three and a half out of five stars.

tl;dr: Ariana Grande makes her polite bid for pop music’s class president. 3.5/5

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Radio Rant: The Songs of the Summer Bust Of 2014

Posted on September 6, 2014 by bgibs122

Since starting this site, I’ve reviewed the annual Songs of the Summer chart from Billboard. The Songs of the Summer chart is fairly new, and there’s kind of a naive romanticism to it; was something like “How To Love” really an essential summer hit because it happened to peak between Memorial Day and Labor Day? But, the chart more than justified itself last year with an absolutely stacked list highlighted by the summer-spanning dogfight between “Get Lucky” and “Blurred Lines”. It wasn’t just that those songs (plus “Radioactive”, “We Can’t Stop”, and “Cups”, dear God, “Cups”) were hits, they were inescapable.

I can’t say the same for this year.

It wasn’t for lack of trying. To the contrary, at least two of these were open Summer Hit Bait. But almost none of them have that one it factor that separates cast-offs the “Come and Get It”s from the “Call Me Maybe”s of the world. So, let’s take a look, this is your Songs of the Summer chart for 2014.

10. DJ Snake ft. Lil Jon – Turn Down For What

Of course, all the groaning I just did about this year’s list is rendered mute by Lil Jon’s liquor-soaked shout of “TURN DOWN FOR WHAT”. I’m not calling “Turn Down For What” a classic, but you can’t fuck with this one in terms of balls-out aggression, primal attitude, and the best deployment of Lil Jon that doesn’t involve Usher. DJ Snake’s beat, all punishing bass and overloaded with claps and snares, sounds like something Andrew WK would make if he went EDM. “Turn Down For What” is the audio equivalent of someone daring you to do another shot, and I will always fall for that shit.

9. Calvin Harris – Summer

Grade On Merit of Dethroning “California Gurls” as the Most Blatant Attempt at a Summer Hit: Pass.
Grade On Merit As a Summer Hit: Fail. Katy Perry at least got a number 1 for her trouble.

8. Pharrell – Happy

In a slightly different world, “Happy” would be a clear number one–for summer’s sake, it peaked way too early in the year–but when your March/April #1 makes an appearance in the summer chart, it shows how iron clad “Happy”‘s grip is on 2014. For my part, I don’t hate listening to “Happy” as long as I decide when it’s on, but what I like a lot more is this remix that pairs it with Janelle Monae’s “Tightrope”. They’re basically the same song, and “Tightrope” brings a low-end punch that “Happy” is painfully missing. I’ve embraced “Happy” as the number one song of the year, unless we get any surprises, but I’m not thrilled about the idea.

7. Jason Derulo ft. Snoop Dogg – Wiggle

We were almost rid of Jason Derulo. I thought his career was going to peter out after a few middling singles, but then “Talk Dirty” happened, and I think he released “Wiggle” just to spite us. The only way Snoop’s verse could be lazier is if he rapped his bank account number, and I don’t know about you, and I didn’t need this hook to remind me why I destroyed my recorder in fifth grade. Derulo brings nothing to the table; if he thought a song could get by on “lol, butts”, he picked the wrong year.

6. John Legend – All Of Me

The fact that this song has sustained momentum into the summer after peaking in April and May is a tribute to the unsung power of wedding DJs, beach slow dances, and dentist offices the world over.

5. Nico & Vinz – Am I Wrong

Now, here’s a nice, inoffensive, mildly flavored song that I can’t for the life of me remember ever hearing. It still sounds vaguely familiar, though. If anyone asks what we were listening to in 2014, “Am I Wrong” is a one-stop answer: there’s the electronic underpinnings, horns, sky-high vocals, and Police-y guitar all in one place. That ubiquity made it a hit this summer, but I can’t imagine wanting to sit down and listen to more by Nico & Vinz after “Am I Wrong” reaches its long-sought conclusion. If they change up their style and gain a bit of an edge, I could see them being a pop juggernaut, but as is, their just top ten fodder. Which is, in itself, not a bad thing.

4. Sam Smith – Stay With Me

Take a guy with Adele’s range and ability to wring a teardrop out of every note, her pop/soul/folk affections, take the tempo down a few notches, and you’ve got fellow Brit Sam Smith. Smith’s the kind of singer that looks good on paper and sounds great in recording; not only can he outsing nearly anyone else, but he can package material as limp as “Stay With Me” as a hit. “Stay With Me” isn’t a bad song per se, it’s just so much: it’s a shuffling, choir and organ backed, downtrodden, reflective, devotion-heavy ballad. In terms of self-seriousness, stuff like this is a rung below “We Are the World”. I much prefer “Latch” Smith’s breakthrough hit with Disclosure, where he brings some of that same longing, but struts between octaves like lonely disco king.

3. Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea – Problem

“Problem” is the purest attempt at a Summer Hit this year, with its conspicuous late April release date, airy instrumentation, and soul/bubblegum pop production. That production, Grande’s vocals, and the still-great fakeout at the chorus were good enough to get “Problem” all the way to number 2 on the Hot 100, but Azalea’s mediocre verse and a lack of personality kept it from the top spot. When I talked about songs lacking the intangible to get to number one, “Problem” was definitely on my mind: if it ever went for the throat, or amped up the bubblegum-y side of it (and maybe got anyone else for the verse), it could have gone further. Ah well.

2. MAGIC! – Rude

Instead of expressing my bafflement at this bland slice of nothing’s continued success/eagerness for its inevitable One Hit Wonder status, I’m going to share an anecdote. A month or so ago, I happened to walk by an LGBTQ rights protest that was taking place a few blocks from where I work. One of the female protesters had a sign with “Rude”‘s chorus on it, complete with “I’m gonna marry her anyway!” in big lettering. It was just a sign, but I wanted to give her points for 1. a snappy pop culture reference, 2. cleverness, and 3. finding relevance in what is likely the most irrelevant song of the year. It didn’t quite make up for the numerous times “Rude” has been inflicted on me over the summer, but hey, a chuckle’s a chuckle.

1. Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX – Fancy

Well, don’t act all surprised. “Fancy” has lived in the top 20 all summer, complete with a seven week stretch at number one, the second longest of any song this year (“Happy” held the spot for ten weeks). Catchy chorus aside, I’m still not that into it; the beat’s too dull, and Azalea doesn’t wow on her verses. I don’t think I’m alone on that, particularly since Azalea’s only now gaining traction with a second, more decisively bad hit. “Fancy” arguably gave Charli XCX more publicity: the association gave “Boom Clap” a leg-up, and now she’s promoing a new album for October after her critically-liked-but-undersold debut last year.

Sometimes the winners aren’t the obvious ones.

My own Songs of the Summer Top Ten in no real order
1. Disclosure ft. Sam Smith -Latch
2. Michael Jackson – Love Never Felt So Good
3. Interpol – All the Rage Back Home
4. Redbone – Come and Get Your Love (Guardians of the Galaxy‘s soundtrack is that good)
5. Charli XCX – Boom Clap
6. FKA twigs – Pendulum
7. Paramore – Aint’t It Fun
8. Lana Del Rey – Shades of Cool
9. Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea – Problem
10. Joyce Manor – Heart Tattoo

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Feedback: Kanye West – Graduation

Posted on August 27, 2014 by bgibs122

Quick, name Kanye West’s least popular album.

You probably thought of 808s & Heartbreak, West’s damaged, alienating, electropop record that’s become the Different album of the last ten years. The divisive record itself, the completely different sound, plus that infamous media gaffe during the album cycle all made 808s an ugly period for West. It took a follow-up masterpiece for him to work his way out of the smoking crater that his reputation became after 808s. Conventional wisdom says its an album to be discarded and swallowed up by the rest of a stellar discography.

But I think conventional wisdom’s changing.

808s was and remains a graceless record, but it’s become an influential one, to boot. Obviously, Drake owes it his fucking career, and it launched Kid Cudi, but it isn’t too much effort see the album’s minimalism, deep bass, and manipulated beats in recent upstarts from FKA twigs to Lorde. Not only is it influential, it’s influencing big names. What’s more, strands 808s’ DNA still show up in West’s own work; even he hasn’t fully left the album behind. Lots of albums are called “the next Pinkerton“, but I think that claim actually holds true for 808s.

No, the Kanye album I think that’s been left behind is 808s‘ predecessor, Graduation. Graduation suffers from a lack of a longstanding identity within Kanye’s canon: it’s the third and least surprising entry of the College trilogy, and it has neither the all-or-nothing oomph of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, nor Yeeus’ “what the fuck?” quotient. It’s also lost the features that defined it upon release; MBDTF laps Graduation as Kanye’s “Big Sound” record, and the person Kanye was during its album cycle was almost completely erased in light of, you guessed it, 808s.

More than any of his other albums, Graduation is a record of its time, and 2007 was a damn good time to be Kanye West. His mother Donda’s still alive and well, he’s engaged to Alexis Phifer, and he’s in the controversy-free safe zone pretty far from “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”, but before “Yo, Taylor”. Fledgling label GOOD Music is just getting off the ground, and The College Dropout and Late Registration are acknowledged masterpieces with capital H Hit singles. People weren’t talking about West as a producer-turned-MC anymore, they were talking about him as a rap mainstay. He’d made it, and he knew it.

Graduation is Kanye’s party album. Inspired by arena rock (West had previously played a string of dates opening for U2), Kanye aimed large and wide for his third album, incorporating a wider range of sounds and more prominent synths, and streamlining the album by jettisoning skits and interludes. Kanye also pushed his raps to have wider appeal and be more fun, nothing quite hits the gravitas of “Never Let Me Down” or “Heard’em Say” here. Instead, Graduation opts to be simpler and more universal, although since it’s Kanye, we still get lines like “If the devil wear Prada/Adam & Eve wear nada/I’m in-between but way more fresher” and “I’m just sayin, hey Mona Lisa/Come home, you know you can’t Rome without Caesar”.

I call it Kanye’s party album because as a far-reaching pop rap album that focuses on the celebration, it’s pretty high quality. The Technicolor sonic pallet from stadium sized glitz jams like “Good Life” and “Stronger” to utterly gorgeous beats on “I Wonder” and “Flashing Lights” is always lively, even the less inspired cuts (see: “The Glory”) are saved by good beats. The synths and lighter emphasis on soul samples, eyebrow raisers when the album was released, are hardly noticable because it’s easy to get wrapped up in how good the album sounds. Kanye’s previous records weren’t exactly stripped down, but Graduation is his first album that deliberately goes big, and sounds like a million bucks while it does so.

The album’s rock steady consistency is a blessing and a curse. On one hand, 2 or 3 brilliant tracks with 7 good-to-great ones and 3 or so filler is a pretty high batting average. On the other, there’s a workman-like quality to some of those great tracks that feels a little uninspired, and Graduation‘s brilliance-to-goodness radio is nearly inverse of most of Kanye’s other albums. But it’s hard to complain with songs like Daft Punk-on-steroids “Stronger”, the sampled up “I Wonder” and “Everything I Am”, and one of my top 5 Kanye songs of all time, “Flashing Lights”. On “Flashing Lights”, the strings from Late Registration make a comeback, blending seamlessly with sky-high synths and pitch shifted vocals, and Kanye’s beat has an almost melodic flow, while Dwele’s hook keeps the whole thing grounded (it’s also part one of what I call Kanye’s “Lights Trilogy“, made of three career standouts).

When Graduation was released, it was in direct competition of then dominant rapper 50 Cent’s Curtis. What began as a lighthearted challenge ended with 50 Cent vowing to stop releasing solo material if he came in second, a promise he quietly reneged on after Graduation sold 957,000 copies in its first week to Curtis‘ 691,000 (a year later, Billboard tracked the sales to 2,116,000 for Kanye and 1,336,000 for 50). History will spin this as a David-vs-Goliath victory ala Dangerous vs Nevermind, but that’s not quite true. The 50 Cent bubble burst in 2005–compare his appearances here vs here and here–losing to Graduation itself wasn’t the beginning of the end for 50, but was the first tangible sign it had started.

I think the reason Graduation‘s left behind is that, really, it’s a subtle transition record. It makes the jump from Late Registration to 808s believable, even if you only notice that it has both of those albums’ prominent features in relief. It’s an album that tinkers with ideas instead of going full tilt with one concept (see: any Kanye album after this). While it’s mostly successful with its experiments, the end result is a rather good pop rap record instead of a fully realized or cracked masterpiece (it is exactly the kind of album that, say, Wiz Khalifa would die to make). As it is, Graduation doesn’t do quite enough to fight its way into the upper ranks of Kanye’s discography, but it isn’t quite “Cs get degrees” in action, either. It’s a hell of a good time getting a B.

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Radio Rant: Taylor Swift – Shake It Off

Posted on August 20, 2014 by bgibs122

Hello, and welcome to Radio Rants. Might as well get comfy with the song that’s going to be inescapable for the next few months.

Shakedown, 1989...Taylor Swift, never had the time.

I think Taylor Swift won.

Or rather, I think Taylor Swift knows she won, and “Shake It Off” is her moment of arrival as a pop star. Hell, just from a marketing stand point, the song’s release and the announcement of 1989 has been near flawless: after 3 massive pop-country albums and then the rousing success of Red as a crossover attempt, she had the clout to drop a single that doesn’t even pretend its county, complete with a video that’s kind of a playful/kind of not a jab at other artists. It’s not quite as on the nose as Kendrick’s verse on “Control”, but it’s a takeover, all the same.

Swift’s rise from fame to megafame’s been about impressive PR as much as it’s been about pumping out consistent music every two years. I’m sure if you searched her apartment, you’d find a copy of Machiavelli’s The Prince with cupcake recipes and cat doodles in the margins. In addition to her lyrics balancing wide appeal and personal relationships, she’s always pitched herself as the sweet, gawky girl you had a class or two with and still get coffee with monthly, even as her records sold circles around everyone else. She acts very genuine and honest, and I’m sure Taylor Swift’s a nice person, but her so-sincere-it-can’t-be act seems like a joke you’re both in on. Imagine Jennifer Lawrence with awkward dance moves instead of pizza.

Speaking of awkward dance moves, back to “Shake It Out Off”. However awesome this thing is as a long-coming powerplay, I’m not as wild about it as a song. The beat cribs from “Happy“, and fittingly suffers from the flaw: fun as it is, the song laps itself far too much. The strain on that snare-high hat hit and marching band horn line start showing just as we come out of the “Hey Mickey” sing-talk break, and there’s still a minute of looped chorus to go after that. It’s supremely catchy, but also blurs the line between catchy and repetitive. “Shake It Out” is also unabashedly populist, blending a Pharrell beat together with Ryan Lewis/Ariana Grande horns. There’s also some Miley attitude in there (plus a side of her own “I Can’t Believe They’re Not Props” criticism) for good measure.

I don’t think this is territory Taylor Swift needs to win.

Okay, to be fair, “Shake It Off” is a fun song, such to the point that you can’t grouse about it without coming off as a sourpuss. Playing off of Swift’s awkwardness and kind-of-perceived-but-not-really faults mostly works because of the song’s dorky rush, but all of her “haters gonna hate (hate, hate, hate, hate)” talk strikes me as the wrong kind of defensive. Swift’s made a career out of passive-aggressive takedowns justified through her own victimization (“you broke up with me, so I’m going to write this song about you”), and without any inciting incident or pain to back it up, “Shake It Off” seems self-congratulatory instead of empowering. Swift is, at this point, a juggernaut commercially and bulletproof critically. More to the point, she carries herself like she knows this, and watching her bad-dance through “Shake It Off”‘s humblebrag of a video feels more like watching a supervillain gloat than an underdog try.

It doesn’t help that the song’s subject material is Taylor Swift. Other people could see themselves in “You Belong With Me” and “We(yee) Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together”, but “Shake It Off” is explicitly about Taylor Swift the same way “Power” is explicitly about Kanye West. It even flounders on that level because “Shake It Off” feels like a dishonest assessment. Who has ever (like, ever) said Taylor Swift stays out too late or has no brain, especially considering she’s widely accepted as a brilliant marketer? The “I’m dancing on my own“ line falls flat, too, with the song’s entire video dedicated to running the “Taylor Swift can’t dance” joke a mile into the Earth’s crust. And seeing Swift unapologetically ape a cheerleader for the bridge when her breakthrough coined “She’s cheer captain/and I’m in the bleachers” has gotta send legions of Fearless fans away in betrayal. “We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together” at least saw Swift making pop music on her terms, “Shake It Off” seems content to run on autopilot.

The pop world’s more interesting when Taylor Swift’s in an album cycle, and while that still holds true for 1989, “Shake It Off” isn’t exactly a promising start. It’s a fun, but kind of dull song, even divorced of its baggage. It might mark the start of Swift’s official (TM) Foray Into Pop Music, but hopefully she remembers to bring her personality with her for the rest of the album. Otherwise 1989 might be a long year.

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