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I've got a couple qualifiers that send me into these songs from a slightly different angle from almost everyone who hears them:
- I live in a hype free world (at least as far as pop music goes). I've never even heard of Cee Lo Green before, I was surprised when Nelly turned out to be a guy, and I only know about Chris Brown and Rihanna because I liked reading Amelie Gillette before she packed up The Hater and went to write for TV. I'm usually blind to a performer's legacy and backstory, so I usually don't have any prejudice when I'm hearing them for the first time.
- I don't listen to the radio, so overplay isn't an issue-- If I'm digging into a song to write about it, it hasn't been crammed down my throat three times an hour, every day, by an annoying DJ... so it's always going to be fresh on my side.
With that on the table, I'm going to try and avoid hyperbole while I come out in support of Cee Lo Green. Everything that Only Girl (in the World) does wrong, Fuck You does right; it's got some slick funk in its beat, the music calls back to Motown, and it manages to be modern while it turns its influences up to 11. And I didn't mention Rihanna's autotuned voice because she barely existed in that song... but there's not a hint of tampering on Cee Lo Green: from what I can tell, this guy is an excellent soul singer.
And he actually has the balls to name the song Fuck You. I expect that from more underground guys: Overkill has a song called Fuck You (and Screeching Weasel covered it)... but they were never going to be in the top 20. I think the one that plays on the radio is adjusted to be “Forget You,” but still... balls. Big brassy yar blockos.
Lyrically, the whole thing is fun, and actually pretty funny, especially with the Motown milieu raging (even if Smokey Robinson asked “ain't that some shit?” I can't imagine the Miracles harmonizing an “ain't that some shit” response), and “I guess she's an Xbox and I'm more an Atari” is endearing. And kind of clever. The whole thing bustles with personality, and the hysterical, on-the verge-of-tears “Why? Why? I still love you!” bridge made me laugh the first time I heard it.
Musically, they threw in everything but the kitchen sink: shakers, hand drums, drum kit (with big stompin kick), piano, organ, electric piano, clean bright guitar, and layers of vocals... I was worried about the lack of bass until the bridge lets the bass part come up front and pop through. Nice.
Pulling back a bit, the song isn't more than it is-- it's still verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, and done. So we're not blowing the roof off the music world here, but it is the first song I've come across in this experiment that I've actually liked. I'm going to keep this around for a bit.
Stay with the song, walk away, or run like hell:
yes! a friend hip'd me to this jam, and i too was surprised at the level of musical authenticity w/in the genre-anthem-thing going on here. the "why why i still love you" is indeed funny, and obvz one of my favorite things this song offers--cee-lo on the verge of tears, aint that some shit.
ReplyDeleteI first heard Cee-Lo on the episode of The Brak Show where they have the rap contest. He's the thing with hella mouths.
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