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thesinglesjukebox · 5 years

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NIKI - INDIGO

[6.71]

A plateau, but a pretty decent one at that...

Kayla Beardslee: The TikTok meme is based around the first line, "You know I'm your type / Right?" and is kind of a lame excuse to flaunt random personality traits to no one in particular on the internet. Sharing short-form, unstructured thoughts to an unknown online audience: yeah, I'd never be caught dead doing that. This song is actually enjoyable on its own merits: fun, funky, and a showcase for Niki's agile and compelling voice. "Indigo" follows the "Truth Hurts" mold of striving to be endlessly quotable, and it surprisingly succeeds at throwing out memorable lyrics more often than it fails. "If thrill was a sport / I'd be the poster child" is one of the clear standout lines. The only problem is that some of the words are borderline incomprehensible, especially in the chorus. What's even more frustrating is that although I can understand the words if I concentrate really hard, it makes the lyrics and music feel at odds with each other, because everything else about "Indigo" encourages the listener to stop thinking and enjoy the undeniable groove. [7]

Kylo Nocom: If you like songs that are straight out of the skweee era, are rather verbose for sex songs (kind of explained by the line on over-thinking, but come on, gumption), and inadvertently creates the desire to start crowdfunding, well... [6]

Alfred Soto: I'll award passing grades to any tune that praises "gumption." Fortunately, the rest of "Indigo" shimmies in a confident, post-Aaliyah mode. [7]

Ian Mathers: I mean, most songs about getting ripped on drugs and fucking don't manage to get away with both "superimposed" and "adagio" right in the chorus, and between the almost playful forthrightness here (if you're going to say "you know I'm your type, right?" why not make it the opening line?) and the little vocal somersaults Niki manages in and around the chorus this winds being more of a bop than it might appear at first. [7]

Will Rivitz: Cashmere Cat has been off on his Catsune Miku kick for a bit, so someone else has had to step in for the annual re-engineering of "Be My Baby." Thankfully, "Indigo" has just enough grit in its bass squelch to stand on its own. [7]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: Musically, it's unassailable in the way that Korea's attempts at contemporary R&B often are (think: Hyolyn's "Dally" or SAAY's "Overzone"). The chorus's start-stop rhythm makes it hard to parse the lyrics though, with Niki rivaling Ariana Grande in terms of poor enunciation. In that moment, the words she sings feel detached from the music -- more cerebral than corporeal. "Indigo" isn't unsexy, but it never really fully teases you with its come-ons and the potential meaning of its titular color. Where's the spunk? Where's the gumption? [6]

William John: A perky, unobjectionable RnBass track is lifted exponentially by Niki's unexpected songwriting choices -- of particular note are the way she flattens the song in the second verse for a bout of nonchalant shit-talk, and her use of words like "gumption," "adagio" and "superimposed," all of which might otherwise indicate overuse of the thesaurus, but here seem instinctive. An exciting new talent. [7]

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#Niki #pop #R&B #music #music review #writing

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taeyoung316famous · 7 years

Audio

https://soundcloud.com/dj-new-era/rnbass-presents-ausland-mixtape-by-dj-ziggy-dj-new-era

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liquoricebxxxh · 8 months

Text

#music #2013 #r&b/hip hop #party song #august alsina #b.o.b #yo gotti #testimony #bonus track #dj mustard #rnbass #rnbass era #early 2010s #Spotify

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thesinglesjukebox · 7 years

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youtube

LADY GAGA - THE CURE [4.64] Remember Lady Gaga? She's back! In pop form..

Thomas Inskeep: The edge of boring. [5]

Crystal Leww: The other day, a friend pointed out that Lady Gaga went from "Bad Romance" to a duets album with Tony Bennett in five years. So I guess it feels apt that in 2017, Lady Gaga has abandoned her latest album after two singles and is changing direction once again, this time to something even blander than faux-country authenticity. "The Cure" is so insultingly anonymous -- it could be sung by any wannabe pop star looking at the EDM vocalist route -- for someone who was so dominant in pop music less than a decade ago. And yet, this is better than anything off Joanne or Cheek to Cheek and better than everything except "Do What U Want" off ARTPOP (which was only good because of R. Kelly, yikes). There's no reason why this fall had to be so swift. Everyone deserves to be fired. [5]

David Sheffieck: I'm old enough to remember when Lady Gaga started trends I didn't like, rather than jumping on ones I'd long come to ignore. That said, she sings more convincingly than anyone else in this space right now. That said, the lyric is vaguely cliched in a way that The Chainsmokers would never allow. [5]

Alfred Soto: She may be in a commercial tailspin, but this concerns me less than the anxiety it inspires. From the received angst of Gaga's high vocal to the sampled trill, "The Cure" could've been written by The Chainsmokers and featuring one of their guests, which means it could've been written by no one. [3]

Cassy Gress: This is possibly the least Gaga-y Gaga song that I've ever heard, aside from her usual awkward scansion (too much emphasis falling on the "with" in "fix you with my love"). A line like "and if you say you're okay, I'm gonna heal you anyway," which would fit right into some of the dark, aggressive pop from The Fame Monster and Born This Way, just comes off as flaccidly obsessive here. If she looked at the reception for Artpop and Joanne and Cheek to Cheek and thought that this must be what people wanted from her, it makes me sad. It's not just that it sounds like a million other anonymous trop-house songs; it's that she sounds so half-hearted about it. [2]

Scott Mildenhall: As much as The Fame's singles spawned imitations, RedOne's production itself was never entirely original, and so Lady Gaga suddenly trying to blend into 2017 radio isn't that extraordinary. Eschewing maximalism on a brand new release is more uncharacteristic, but the cap fits. The restorative power of love and connection is ground she knows, and she sells a belief in it here with delicacy almost as well as when it was bursting out of her on "The Edge of Glory." It's not earth-shattering, but pleasantly functional -- a litmus test for her ability to chart well, quite possibly. [7]

Joshua Copperman: I don't get why everyone says it sounds like tropical house, or like the Chainsmokers. In fact, this sounds like "The Fame"-era Gaga to me. The same person who wrote "Million Reasons" is the same person that wrote "You and I" is the same person that wrote "Paparazzi" (which actually shares a similar obsession theme with "The Cure"), and so on and so forth. It's easy to think of this as a regression or one last attempt at relevancy before signing off to do albums with Tony Bennett forever, but this song is a cool way of bringing all the Gagas together, and I hope that it brings her all the success she's clearly going for here. [6]

Katherine St Asaph: And to think that circa Born This Way she actually was veering toward The Cure. The personnel make me think this has gotta be old material, as does how it kinda sounds like it began life as a rnbass take on Britney's "Sometimes." The lyrics, free of any complications, make me think she can't have written it for herself. It's not the first time Gaga's been smothered by commercial necessities -- Artpop had Zedd, "Just Dance" had Colby O'Donis and RedOne when he rated -- but it certainly continues a regression. Stefani's a theater kid -- when did she forget it's better to be big and wrong? [3]

Leonel Manzanares: It's kind of painful to hear such an iconic, unique performer follow a trend instead of leading it, and that fact alone is exactly what kills this otherwise solid tropi-pop song. Miss Germanotta is a gifted topline maker, and the way she frames the melody in the pre-chorus, jumping on that D# chord, is masterful, but considering the surroundings -- vocal-synth hooks, Kygo by-the-numbers atmospherics and the most generic-ass beat you can find on Soundcloud -- it all just feels like a missed opportunity. Most shockingly, it all sounds so NORMAL. AND IT'S A GAGA SONG. COME ON. [6]

Will Adams: Gaga's had to deal with an implacable audience ever since Artpop failed to recoup its $25 million budget. Make a conceptual electropop record, she's overthinking things. Make a country-pop album, she's stuffy. Record some jazz duets, what the hell is she doing? Join the 2017 current, she's desperate. By some definition, "The Cure" is very of the moment, but apart from the vocal-as-violin thread, I can't find that much of a departure from her early work. It's a bit like "Do What U Want" without the paparazzi context (and more "Cater 2 U" by way of Munchausen), and her powerful voice is front and center as always. If she's not going to reinvent the wheel anymore, at least she can spin it in her own unique way. [6]

William John: Though it may not have succeeded in every respect, I admired the resolute contrariness of Joanne and its campaign. For an artist whose rise to the top of the charts was meteoric, Lady Gaga's recent projects - the kaleidoscopic Artpop, the Tony Bennett collaboration, serious Dianne Warren balladry, the veering into country - have felt very out of step with pop trends. Some might see this as deliberate obtuseness, but my impression of Joanne was one of sincerity; this was an earnest genuflection to a genre she'd only dipped her toe into previously. Lady Gaga has bills to pay too, I presume, but it's a shame that she's resorted to something so stale to do so. The classic Gaga singles from the latter part of the last decade constitute the apotheosis of mainstream electropop at that time; "The Cure," meanwhile, has the air of something drawn from one of the Chainsmokers' backup hard drives, all chirruping and jerky, expunged of any uniqueness or specificity. As a Chainsmokers single this would be fine -- that's their modus operandi, after all. As a Lady Gaga single, it's dismayingly paltry. [3]

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#Lady Gaga #The Cure #Not the seminal British alternative band

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thesinglesjukebox · 5 years

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JÓIPÉ, KRÓLI, GDRN & SZK - NÆSTA [7.12] A perhaps-surprising entry in our 2019 top scorers: this Icelandic rap track. Note: Does not involve TashBed.

Scott Mildenhall: Transcribed lyrics are lacking for "Næsta", but there's no need for diligently copying the eths and thorns of the ones overlain on the video into Google Translate because the TV show it came from has been given English subtitles. That show is Iceland's hugely popular satirical New Year TV special, Áramótaskaup, for which this song recently formed the finale. It's a densely political but ever self-aware reflexive roast, performed by an ensemble led by the (mostly ceremonial) president's rapper nephew: at once celebratory, knowing and banging. In 2002, 95.5% of Iceland's population watched Áramótaskaup, and on this showing, fair enough. [8]

Iain Mew: Getting a fragmented, competitive live travelogue (Did you mean: Travelodge). Sitting on board a colourful electronic vehicle. There's no time to explore. The surroundings are cool but there's no time to explore. Always a pivot to the next stop. "Now on your left, a chilled sung section." "We're approaching a fantastic example of Europop rapping of the classic school." Everything sounds familiar but nothing sounds familiar. There's no time to think. Always a pivot to the next stop. "Alright, do any of you like Big Bang?" "Hang on, I think I'm getting some interference in my headphones..." [7]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: JóiPé, Króli, and SZK are all mediocre rappers who haven't released anything of note, but their best songs are all pop-rap (though the dated RnBass tracks are horrific). It's not surprising then that they whipped up a decent track in "Næsta," one of the most unabashedly pop songs in any of their catalogues. GDRN makes MOR R&B, but her verse here makes the instrumentation feel super slick, and her silky vocals are sorely missed the moment they disappear. But she -- like everyone else -- wouldn't be able to hold interest for all four and a half of these minutes. "Næsta" succeeds, though, because its singers and rappers' flaws are less perceptible because of their limited presence. More importantly, the song trusts in its infectious chorus. The final one has a punchier synth bass, sounding like a small but earned celebration. [6]

Ryo Miyauchi: The rappers answer to the sunny and sticky beat, a four-on-the-floor creation that reminds me of an MP3 during the bloghaus era. The slightly retro sheen gets scrubbed away toward the end with a buzzsaw bass line and a warped vocal solo that sends "Næsta" back to the current timeline. That rougher section deserves a house-pop single to itself. [6]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: The beat is the kind of coolly generic dance music that makes me expect a paint-by-numbers effort-- some slick vocals or a hit of rap. Instead, this Icelandic track gets weird. There are movements here-- sung vocals to raps to more, shoutier raps all fitting together with the charm and confusion of watching someone else's friendly in-jokes. [7]

Iris Xie: I just want to grab a friend and make a lipsync video to this, it is so ridiculous. I might come off as Dr. Frankenstein here, but this sounds like a 2019 update of BIGBANG and 2NE1's Lollipop, boosted with the vocal phrasings from a Naruto theme song (Sambomaster - "Seishun Kyousoukyoku") and the speedy, alternating raps from one of the funnest SHINee songs ("Love Still Goes On"). The DNA of all of these songs share a devotion to the ludicrous, carefree side of pop music, where the only thing that matters is how purely and completely you can express your excitement and earnestness. Like, what is going on from 2:20 to 3:00? That vocalist is just riding on a steady marching beat melody with variations, before it just launches into a full force autotuned adlib before going back into the hook. The hell was that?! [8]

Thomas Inskeep: Four voices rapping and singing, easygoing electropop beats, plenty of space for the track to breathe, and an elastic, bouncing bridge: combine it all and you get a pretty damned good pop record from Iceland. [7]

Edward Okulicz: I love the entirety of this song, but I'm not sure if I like each part of it on merit, or if I'm just transfixed by the verse that sounds, I swear to god, like the guy from the (Norwegian, not Icelandic) Grandiosa Lørdagspizza commercial doing the verses to the Bloodhound Gang's "Mope." But really, you've got four artists who do their own thing and a track that mutates to match and keep the interest throughout. I can't ask for too much more from a breezy Europop-rap hit. Well, there's more if you dive into the lyrics, but I didn't need to. [8]

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#JÓIPÉ #KRÓLI #GDRN #SZK #music #icelandic music #new music #music video #music writing #music reviews #iceland

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