The problem with rap music today is that Vine shit is getting popular and making it to the top, while actual rap songs are stuck on my Wednesday segment. It's a cruel world we live in, guys.
But if it's in my Wednesday segment, it means I get to talk about it all the same, and oh god am I happy to talk about actual rap music this time around. This song is really good. It's not the most exciting rap song I've ever heard (in fact, it's a little on the dull side), but it's just so nice to hear actual thought and effort being put into the lyrics. You hear these Vine raps these days and you wonder where effort like this has gone. Well, it hasn't gone anywhere. You just aren't buying it. And that is truly a shame, because we need to be promoting more songs like this and less Fetty Wap, T-Wayne and especially Silento.
Ughhhh. I suppose this entry is just a reminder that there is good rap still out there. You just have to search a little harder for it than you used to. As the song says, things change. Sometimes not for the better.
On this day of the week, we look at Canadian artists who do things better. Case in point, here's someone doing "Wake Me Up" better than Avicii.
Man, if "Wake Me Up" was my only reference, you wouldn't be able to convince me that electronic music and folk go well together? But here? Like peaches and cream. I'm actually really surprised I like this song, because as far as I'm concerned, it starts out like a Calvin Harris song.
Yeah... that guy. Ugh. But once Coleman Hell starts singing, you know that he's got exponentially more talent than Calvin Harris. and then the banjos kick in and it just sounds amazing. I don't think I've ever seen folktronica done this well. What really works about this song is that the two genres don't feel separate; they feel like they belong together, and they meld together well. you could easily make an electronica song and just slap some banjos over it and call it a day, but here, it's meticulously organized in order to actually sound good. A novel idea, really. Music that sounds good. What won't they think of next?! I really hope this guy gains the popularity he deserves. I love seeing artists get recognition for good music.
...this guy has officially superseded one-hit wonder status. That's weird.
I mean... I think I was nicer to "Trap Queen" than most would be, but did we really need another hit from this guy? I think after "Trap Queen", we've pretty much dissected what this guy is all about, and we can forget about him. But... no. No, we can't. Because here he is again. I honestly don't know what to say. Is Fetty Wap the future of music? And more importantly, am I okay with that? See, that's the important question here. Whether I, personally, am okay with it. Well, I don't think Fetty Wap is the worst thing in music I've ever heard, but listening to his stuff he's definitely still a pretty significant step down from good music. You know when you're listening to the real deal, and you know when you're listening to a gimmick. This guy is a gimmick. At the same time, though... he's honestly giving us some of the "best" mainstream rap of 2015.
You understand that's not exactly a big accomplishment, though. I mean, you've seen the shit I've covered this year. It's just... awful. I don't think I've seen a worse year for mainstream rap, at least not the stuff actually making it onto the Hot 100. So, while Fetty Wap isn't great, I can honestly say I don't hate his music, probably by association with what he's up against. The Remy Boyz are fine, they do the "bitches bling" thing and call it a day. But oh god, can't we aspire to more than this? This is not good, thought-provoking music. We need to set things straight quickly if 2015 rap has any hope of being any good. But then again... maybe we should all just bow down and hail our overlord Fetty Wap. YeeeEEEaaah? NaaaAAAaaah.
Well, this is always a nice sight to see. More females in rock music!
Throughout rock history, the talent behind the instruments has always been heavily slanted towards one gender in particular. But the more we can get new female artists making a splash on the rock charts, the sooner we can change that statistic. So, how is this song? Well... okay, the title of this song is really stupid. Ex's and... Oh's? I get the tic-tac-toe thing, but in the context of the song, how do your "Oh's" haunt you? Yeah. That's where it falls apart for me. And the rest of the song is... okay. It's honestly nothing I haven't heard from a lot of indie rock these days. The only thing this song really has going for it is Elle King's personality, which comes through in her voice, in her lyrics, and in this video. Wow! Suddenly I feel ashamed of my body for no apparent reason. And I suppose that big, gaping personality is enough to save the song. I do hope for good things from Elle King, and I hope to hear new songs where she experiments a little with what current rock music can sound like.
If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'm just going to sit here and lament the state of rap music today. Ahem... OH GOD WHYYYY *sigh* All right, this is... "U Guessed It" by OG Maco.
Okay, can I ask something here? Is Vine really such a great barometer for popular, widespread music? Let me give you an example:
This song was absolutely everywhere in 2008. You saw it on music channels, it blew up on YouTube, you heard it on the radio. You couldn't escape it! So as such, it became a #1 hit. Conversely, this is where I know "U Guessed It" from.
That's it! And while I can attest to the humour of this Vine, I'm not a frequent Viner and I haven't heard this anywhere else! So how can this be one of the top emerging artists if I've barely heard of his "hit" song? Well, it seems that Viners have been curious to check out the entire song after they hear the Vine, because this song has (no joke) 38 million views on YouTube and counting. And as far as I can tell, all of those views come from amused Viners because this fucking bloooowwwws. The problem with Vine-popular songs, usually, is that the only notable part of the song is the part they use in the Vine. And that's definitely the case here. There is nothing else of value in this song, and when your song's value rests on a 6-second punchline, well... how good can you really say it is? God, I'm just so sick of this garbage polluting the charts. It's been going on for far too long in 2015 and I'm here to put a stop to it. Boycott Vine! Stop watching Vine! I...
Teehee. Okay, I guess that was pretty funny. ...No! I stand by my previous comments. No more Vine! No more...
Oh, Vine. I can't stay mad at you. Vine really is an interesting concept. It's pretty much solidified the theory that the attention span nowadays has drastically dropped. I mean, who wants to watch a three minute video anymore? No one, that's who! So Vine gives us multiple 6-second clips of goodness, and I will forever be grateful it exists, as it gives a whole new opportunity for aspiring filmmakers to work with limits and work around them, and provides us with some pretty good entertainment along the way! Just... please. Keep it off Billboard. Thanks.
Do you ever just have that one party that you feel pressured to go to and you don't really want to go, but all your friends are there so you decide to make the best of the situation? Yeah, uh... here's a song for you.
This is an interesting one, for sure. I've heard a lot of songs as of late go against the typical tropes you see in popular music, most notably "Royals", but this one does so in a different way. It tells a story from the person's perspective, and she's actually encompassed in the party environment. It's really quite interesting, and I think we sort of needed a song like this. At the same time, though, I'm not sure how well this song connects to pop music culture, and I think that's what it's, at least in part, trying to do. If you don't listen to the lyrics, you might mistake this for your run-of-the-mill pop song. But the subject matter presented here negates that perspective. However, some of the diction choices, such as the repetition of the word "here" over and over in the chorus take very broad brushstrokes from pop music. It's a bit of a muddle, and I honestly would prefer that this song be a little more interesting. But at the same time, I can see the irony in adapting a style that contradicts your message, sort of like a parody. But it's just not presented with enough self-awareness for me to identify it as such. Overall, I think the song is good, but not great. I can definitely see how it would appeal to some people, but for me, I think the message is a little muddled by the musical choices made in the song, and it also doesn't do enough to stand out.
As the years go by, dance tracks seem to be getting less and less prevalent on the mainstream charts. I guess we were all burnt out by the end of 2013, 2014 started the decline, and now 2015 is more scarce than ever. But dance songs do still exist in popular music, as evidenced by the latest track on my queue, "Lean On" by Major Lazer and DJ Snake.
I honestly can't tell you what this means for dance music these days, but the video is definitely setting cultural relations a few steps back. Okay, so I've talked about Diplo before, and he is one of the members of Major Lazer. His work with DJ Snake does well to create an interesting dance beat that incorporates both their styles. I'd honestly like to see more electronic music producers collaborate like this. Beyond that, though, I'm not a huge fan of M0's vocals or the lackluster lyrics. Adding the vocals in makes that song sound like it doesn't really build up to anything, kind of nullifying DJ Snake's influence on the song. It doesn't completely ruin it, but I think it's a fairly sizable detriment. So overall, this song is just okay for me. What this says for the future of electronic music, i don't know. We've had okay dance songs in the past. But as of now, I don't really see much here.
Note: Apologies for no Wednesday entry this week. Completely slipped my mind, and I will definitely have one up next week. Anyway, back to the show! So the fundamental problem with my title "Facemelt Friday" is simply that popular rock music these days doesn't really do much face melting. It's more of a mellow coating of aloe vera. Case in point, here's "Budapest" by George Ezra.
What can I say about this? Honestly. Well... rock music typically has intricate, well-thought-out lyrics... maybe I can take a crack at those! ...this song is very cute. It's a love song. Okay, so in the song he talks about all of his possessions and how he would leave them all for "you", despite what his family might think. It's a nice sentiment. I just wish there was more emotion put into it. The production basically just goes through the motions without much thought. It makes me not care as much about the song, or what George Ezra has to go through. If he can't get across his anguish and love, then what am I supposed to fell? Instead, he goes the Phillip Phillips route of just sounding... mellow. And I'm sorry, but mellowness is just not a trait in music that we need. You can't make good mellow music; have you ever seen any piece of media that was mellow that worked? Have you ever seen a good mellow film? Or watched a full season of a mellow TV show? Hell, even Mello Yello lives in the shadow of Mountain Dew. Because who wants to drink something mellow? Sorry, George. It's a nice sentiment, as I said, but there just isn't much that you've done with it. I wish I could say more, but I think I'm done with it.. Too bad George Ezra can't emote enough to respond to this.
All right, so it's been a while since I've had to do this, but it looks like the Canadian charts are stagnant again as far as homegrown acts go, so let's take it back a couple years to 2010, when Drake was still finding his place in the business.
In 2009, Drake released his debut EP and instantly turned into one of the big stars of hip hop, with smash hit collaboration "Forever" and his first album on the way. That album would turn Drake from star into superstar.
And here's "Find Your Love", the song that essentially cemented Drake into pop music history forever. How is it? Well... I gotta be honest, I love this song. It's always great to hear Drake embrace his R&B side. Actually, up until recently, I thought that's where he shined the brightest. But now he's released his latest mixtape and my perceptions of him have been turned on their heads and... well, let's get back to this song. Not only is Drake's voice probably the most on point it's ever been, the production on this is also stellar. It really does tug at the heartstrings, and the production helps to pump up the song a little. It really is an interesting mood to take, and I don't think I've ever heard a song like this. Hey hey hey! Now that it's stopped playing constantly on the radio, I can look back on this song with fond memories. Definitely one of the standout gems of 2010. It's a shame Drake wasted so much time failing at showing emotion when we can clearly see that he can. Oh well. At least there were glimpses of talent throughout his career, and now that I have a whole new perspective on Drake, I can look forward to his future projects. Now that's some kind of love. Or appreciation, rather.
Wow girls, um... this is... this is... god, this is awful. I can't even pretend to like this. It's just repetitive, meaningless garbage. Seriously, this song could have been cut into thirds and each one would have sounded pretty much the same. Kid Ink appears on this song twice, and the second time he doesn't even do anything different! Not only that, but it was an awful idea to even have him on the track in the first place. It's obvious that Fifth Harmony are trying to assert themselves as dominant, so why have Kid Ink up in your song spouting garbage like this and setting that back? OK, I tell her bring it back like she left some- Bring it bring it back like she left some- ...left some what? Seriously, what? I'm confused. with it with it with it with it Are you stuck, Kid Ink? Do I have to knock on your head to get you going again? What a waste. Of course, it's not like the women in Fifth Harmony do anything to distinguish themselves either. The closest any of them come are Camila, who sings the chorus and has the second verse, and Dinah, who has the first verse. Meanwhile, two of them sing the bridge and I can't tell them apart, nor do I care enough to. And... I guess the fifth girl is just there for show? Well, this was my introduction to Fifth Harmony, and let me tell ya, I'm not really all that impressed. I guess the sax is nice, as well as being the only memorable part of the song, but I can't think of any other reason to listen to this. Nothing will make this worth it.
