Tuesday, April 8, 2014

CanTunes Tuesday: "Crazy for You" - Hedley

Well guys, here's the deal. Being a Canadian blogger, Canadian Content laws have cracked down on me, so I need to do this segment once a week where I review Canadian hit songs.

Kidding, kidding, only kidding. I'm actually doing this out of my own free will. I'm not sure how popular it will be, as most Canadian music never really crosses the border. But I think it's important to add a little extra homegrown flavour to my blog (that's "flavour" with a "u"). And what better way to do that than to find out which acts are striking it big in Canada?

Well, uh, here's the thing: Our charts have a lot of the same songs as your charts. In fact, only two of the top ten of the Canadian Hot 100 songs are actually by Canadian artists. But they are there, so let's start things off with "Crazy for You" by Hedley.



Geeeeaaaaauuugh.

Okay, here's the deal with Hedley: They're, like, superstars over here. And there was once a time where I might have called Hedley a decent band. Kind of a less excruciating and more fun Simple Plan. But then they released their late 2013 single, "Anything".



This just reeks of sellout. That song made me question Hedley, but then "Crazy for You" just made me give up on them. Okay, to put into perspective how much Hedley has changed, here's a look at their first single:



And you know what? I like this song. It's fun, upbeat, and catchy. More importantly, Hedley had a personality with this song, something they utterly, utterly lack in "Crazy for You".

I mean, honestly. What are they trying to do here? Rip off Daft Punk? Oh my God, that is what they're doing. SELLOUTS! BAD SELLOUTS!

No no no no no. If I want "Get Lucky", I will listen to "Get Lucky". Jacob Hoggard (yep, that's the lead singer's name), YOU ARE NOT DAFT PUNK!

It's such a shame, really. I liked Hedley when they did songs like "On My Own". Hell, even when they did their slower ballads, I didn't mind it, because at least they were still themselves! Even "Anything", though it reeks of sellout, still has the uplifting message that you can do anything you set your mind to, which is part of Hedley's style. Being an individual and not caring about what other people say. This... this is painful to sit through.

I mean, I guess "Crazy for You" isn't a bad-sounding song, but it's not Hedley. It's Hedley trying to be another artist. And that doesn't sit well with me at all. I can handle it with an artist like Bruno Mars, because he's actually better at being other artists than he is being himself. But Hedley had a decent personality for themselves, damnit! And they're throwing it away, song by song.

I'm so crazy for you

Well, I'm sorry Hedley. I'm about as far from being crazy for you as I've ever been. There's no way that Hedley will go back to their old roots at this point, but if this is the path they decide to take, then I guess I can't force them to do otherwise. This isn't really a terrible song, but I weep for the death of a band's integrity today.

So, that's Tuesday for ya, eh? Come back Wednesday for yet another new segment!

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