Rihanna - 'Don't Stop The Music'
Remember mash-ups? Rihanna's people do, and rightly so. Once upon a time, around the turn of the last millennium, you could barely move for bedroom mix-kids putting the vocals from one song - such as 'Unchained Melody' by Gareth Gates, the then-recent runner-up on TV's Pop Idol - over the backing track to another song - Robson and Jerome's 'Unchained Melody', perhaps - and coming up with an exciting, brash new alternative to music, which contained half the creamy goodness and twice the sugar.
What? That Gareth Gates thing wasn't a MASH-UP?? But how else could you explain the anaemic production? The sense of total dislocation between the voice and the music (and the listener)? Who would be so evil as to bleach the colour and texture out of a song like that...not once, but TWICE? Oh. Now I remember...
Anyway, the brilliant thing about Rihanna's latest is that it does sound like they recorded her vocals to a different backing, then gave them to some nerdy beatmatcher with an extensive collection of dark electro and classic pop, and invited him to go nuts.
I mean, Rihanna has that kind of vocal delivery at the best of times, right? She always sounds a little bit emotionally removed, a little distant and haughty, but also a smidge melancholy and tearful. That's part of what made 'Umbrella' such a bittersweet classic, the fact that she managed to carry off sounding like she was delivering a speech to a room full of disinterested co-workers AND an intimate message of support to someone she loves at the same time.
And in the case of this song, the vocal melody in the verses isn't a million miles away from Aaliyah's always-astonishing 'Try Again' and the choruses have something of Madonna's 'La Isla Bonita' about them, and the backing track is pure four-to-the-floor trance, with a filtered sample from Michael Jackson's 'Wanna Be Startin' Something' wafting in and out over the top. It's like Eric Prydz all over again.
In other words, you've got music taken from an old '80s hit, and a dislocated, but very familiar vocal which sounds like it belongs elsewhere, and the two things have been nailed together in a rough, but effective fashion....
Hmmm... Ladies and gentlemen, this song is nothing short of a clever update of 'Freak Like Me' by the Sugababes, and I claim my five pounds!
Download: Out now
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comments
I love the song, she should have skipped "I hate that I love you" and straight to the "...music". I was also deluded into thinking that Rihanna's haughty and really an ice-queen (and an ice-cream, yummy), but I read a couple of her interviews - she semms alright
Being stingy with the blogs today, eh Fraser??! Now I have 5 mins of distraction to fill in doing something else which will no doubt take LONGER than reading a blog posting and so I'll revise less and maybe won't cover that CRUCIAL part of my course which will then come up in the exam and I'll FAIL!
And it's all you're fault ;)
[I have ONE DAY off sick and that's when you finally choose to grace ChartBlog with your commenting presence, is it? Bah! No gratitude, some people ;-) - Fraser]
Darnit I just typo'd 'your' didn't I. I should be working in a co-op.
This has been out for ages in Europe!
Sorry for Britain, you got the bad single first!
No timing, some people! Pick a day that I have something better to do than skulk around the inet avoiding revision!! :P
I like the song but the first time I listened it sounded super odd because I kept expecting the melody to go the other way and so on lol.. So yah, must be pretty close to some other song!
Yeah in France we got this straight after 'Umbrella', no messing around with 'Shut up and drive' and 'Hate that I love you'!!
Well, usually it's the other way around, we have to wait ages between the UK release and the French release (if it ever comes)...
So thanks, Rihanna-people!
Hi! I`m from Bulgaria and Ithink the song is wonerful. Rihanna is a cool singer and I like her! Kisses...Bye ;) :P :D ...