So 2013 has been a breakout year for alot of artists: Daft Punk, Icona Pop, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis etc. However, there are four singles that I've been meaning to discuss, and they all come from our former Disney starlets and the co-star of the new show "Sam & Cat" (if you wanna know how good it is: it's decent, like "Victorious", some laughs stick and some don't). Demi Lovato was the first one to arrive with a new single, "Heart Attack", which premiered in February 2013, then Selena Gomez was quick to follow with her first single as a "solo artist" (I mean, did she really need "The Scene" backing her up, even though they never sang or made any significant contribution?), "Come and Get It", which premiered in March 2013. Then Ariana Grande decided to release her second single of original material, featuring Mac Miller, called "The Way", which premiered in April 2013, and then lastly at the tail end of May 2013, Miley Cyrus broke her long silence from music with "We Can't Stop". Also another fun fact: Demi left Disney in 2010, Miley left in 2011, and Selena left in 2012, Ariana is the only non-Disney actress here, but they're all the same age (believe it or not), so that's why I'm including her in this post.
So, between these four young divas, whose single reigns supreme? Well from a commercial standpoint, Selena's "Come and Get It" has been the mainstream favorite, reaching number 6 on the Hot 100 ("The Way" has reached number 9, "Heart Attack" peaked at number 10, and "We Can't Stop" just debuted at number 11). But I'm not the mainstream, am I? Nope, after listening to all the songs, I've decided to share my opionions on them, and rank them from what I think is the best single, to the one that's not the best. I'll go through the songs in no particular order.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Miley Cyrus-"We Can't Stop"
I should hate this song. It's about partying and doing stupid stuff, the lyrics are gramatically atrocious, Miley's obviously trying to show the world that she's not Hannah Montana anymore, and it's such a slow jam, it's more of a bad Rihanna song than a song to get the people moving. However, I don't hate this song, on the contrary, I actually really like it. The carnality and debauchery that Miley is singing about doesn't feel alienating as it did on "Can't Be Tamed", because now that she's 20, she's had quite a bit of time to settle into her sexual and adult persona. She also is expanding her musical herizons, as the slurred singing and high notes are by far Miley's most daring vocals to date. She's actually building on her new found persona now, and that celebration turns "We Can't Stop" into a very interesting track. Topically, it's just about having fun, no drama or anything, we should all just party up and not worry about our differences. She doesn't necessarily execute that well (as proved in the lines "To my home girls here with the big butt/Shaking it like we at a strip club/Remember only God can judge ya/forget the haters, cause somebody loves ya), and while she's fully in control of her music now, Miley still sounds like she's trying to making Hannah Montana seem like a distant memory. However, she's not Christina Aguilera (who released "Dirrty" in 2002 as a way to show people her true, sexual self). "We Can't Stop" feels like she was drunk or hungover when she sang it, true that's what gives it character and a nice flow, but perhaps Miley's over-exertion is what has led legions of her fans astray. This is a good song, it might be slow, but the hook is very catchy, Miley's vocals cover more range, it's more grown up and experimental than anything she has recorded, and all in all, it's a good follow-up to her biggest party song "Party in the USA".
Selena Gomez-"Come and Get It"
Hmmm, did Selena spy on Miley as she made "We Can't Stop"? Because upon the first listen of "Come and Get It", I automatically thought it was another song meant for Rihanna. Leftovers are never that appealing, but Selena was smart in adding something distinctive to the track. Right away you hear a woman doing a chant of some sort, and you also hear the bongos and the congas supplying the beats. The rest of the music is pretty much synth-driven as it was in Miley's song, but "Come and Get It" is obviously faster and more innocent. Instead of people "Lining up to get a line in the bathroom", Selena's take on the adult party song is much more tween-friendly ("This love will be the death of me/But I know I'll die happily"). This is a very contradicting factor, but Selena's lyrics have always been disconnected from her music, which is often times layered and hook-y. However, the biggest problem with "Come and Get It" is that it doesn't sound that much different than Selena did 2 years ago on her album "When the Sun Goes Down". Yeah it's tricked out with Indian influences and more confident vocals, but there's still an undercurrent of boredom and Selena sings the lyrics, but she's still not feeling what she's singing. This is what makes this song less appealing than "We Can't Stop", because Miley owned that song and she felt every lyrics and melodic line, Selena is still walking through the motions. That doesn't mean the underlying music is bad, this time around it's not a knock-out punch, but as I said before, the beats are insistent, the synths don't drive too hard and the song grows and dies when necessary. All in all, I have to say "Come and Get It" is kind of mediocre, Selena is still working on finding an on-record charisma (even if this song doesn't show that), but with enough spins the hook finally sinks in and you'll definitely make room for it on your iPod or other music playing device.
Ariana Grande featuring Mac Miller-"The Way"
There are several problems I have with this song. First, a guest appearance? Did Ariana really need a rapper on this song to sell the track? Well obviously she did, since her debut single "Put Your Hearts Up" didn't even go Gold upon its 2011 release. Now Mac Miller isn't a bad rapper, but since Ariana is still a Nickelodeon star, his raps have been so kiddy-fied it's laughable ("Singing in the shower/Picking petals off the flowers"??). Plus, it's pretty obviously Mac has only been put here to sell the track and give Ariana some street cred with the people who don't know what "Victorious" or "Sam & Cat" is. The second problem I have is the genre: R&B? I mean, it's not flimsy teen-pop, I'll give her that, but releasing an R&B song in a world dominated by EDM and R&B? This sounds like another sell-out move, but here's the zinger: it's not 2013 R&B, its sound and Ariana's random use of the whistle tones remind me of another teen star who made the exact same type of songs back in 2004. Remember JoJo? She sang "Leave (Get Out)" and "Too Little Too Late"? "The Way" is identical to miss JoJo Levesque in every possible regard, right down to Mac Miller's appearance. It's all tween-R&B, something that would have been acceptable back in 2004 when JoJo made it popular, but this is 2013, it's old and we've literally heard it all before. I mean, Ariana would make a great JoJo, but we already have one of those. Who is Ariana Grande really? This ties into the third problem, "The Way" is not original. Let me explain, it interpolates not one, but two melodies from other songs: Brenda Russell's 1979 song "A Little Bit of Love", and Big Pun's 1998 song "Still Not a Player". Now, those songs weren't really hits, so nobody would know that, but still, considering Ariana's debut single "Put Your Hearts Up" was a clean rip-off of 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up?", it's very disappointing to hear that Ariana still has not been given the credibility she deserves. She has an amazing voice and a sweet charisma, but "The Way" kind of stifles that, and she's just as listless as her Nickelodeon characters. While "Come and Get It" was bordering on mediocre, "The Way" is basically straight-up mediocrity. I'm not saying it's bad, it has another infectious hook and vocal leaps that slowly dig their way into your mind, but it's not nearly as good as it should have been.
Demi Lovato-"Heart Attack"
I fricken LOVE this song!!! I didn't know that Demi had songs like this in her, but she proved me wrong! For starters, her voice is in prime form. She can now hit all of those G5s and belt them, do you know how hard that is? She even reaches an Ab5 at one point, and the rest of the song her vocal acrobatics are powerful and consistent, two qualities lacking in her previous singles. Unlike Miley who's still working on her range and finding her best sound, Demi has done it with this song. Sonically it combines both synths and guitars, two instruments that typically don't sound good together, but in "Heart Attack", they're intertwined to the point that they do. It has a thumping bass and also a nice string arrangement, which also supports Demi's strong singing. The best part about this song is that it's not Disney-fied or geared towards only kids, and it contains some pretty strange lyrics ("When I don't care/I can play em like a Ken doll/Won't wash my hair/Then make them bounce like a basketball"). And while Demi has finally took some liberty with her lyrics, the only thing that pushes this song above the rest is that she is the star, not the producers. Her voice demands attention and keeps it, then at the end you'll want to play it all again. Now, the only thing that keeps "Heart Attack" from perfection is that once again, the over-exertion can wear on you after a few plays. The song doesn't lose its luster, but the bright, glossy sheen peels away. Still, it retains a high quality in both the music and the words, and with Demi's new, powerful on-record presence, this song is one of 2013's most essential.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, as you can already tell, this is how I would rank the songs:
1. Demi Lovato-"Heart Attack"
2. Miley Cyrus-"We Can't Stop"
3. Selena Gomez-"Come and Get It"
4. Ariana Grande and Mac Miller-"The Way"
Now oddly enough, even though "Come and Get It" doesn't sound any different than Selena's previous work, it has beat out all four songs in sales and airplay. Maybe it's because of the Indian-flavors, but I think it's because it's mediocrity helps sell it. Sorry to piss you off, but mediocrity sells. Songs that are really high in quality are seen as too sophisticated, and songs that come from Rebecca Black, the "Friday" songs of the world are seen as too awful. But staying in the middle, where the song is neither good or bad, just so-so, now that is your next top ten hit. This also explains why "The Way" is now climbing the charts, it's not a great song, but it gets the job done, it's satisfactory for the mainstream. Of course "Heart Attack" would only peak at number 10, because it might be too much for the least demanding listeners. As far as "We Can't Stop", well it just debuted, so it might reach the top ten, but it's not a mediocre song, as a party song it's mediocre, but as a song in general it's actually pretty good. We'll just have to see :)
No comments:
Post a Comment