Tag: Maroon 5

Saturday Flashback: Maroon 5 – Memories

“Ew.”

Tom: Do you remember the UK Eurovision selection process this year, Tim, when Jordan Clark sang Freaks?

Tim: I do, yes. Intensely.

Tom: We never talked about it here, but I do remember us both being grumpy that they’d just gone a crap version of Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Not just the chord progression, but the melody and everything.

Tim: I was further annoyed because, although the studio version was complete and total garbage, the staging around it made it not quite so bad.

Tom: And then I was even more annoyed, because the bloody song got stuck in my head, because of course it did, it’s Canon in D.

Tim: Of course.

Tim: Ew.

Tom: It’s like that, only more frustrating.

Tim: And with a video that’s just plain weird.

Saturday Flashback: Maroon 5 – One More Night

“Pity the poor live drummers, though. “

Tim: We’ve remarked previously that Rihanna’s Umbrella doesn’t have its own unique backing, but does in fact share it with (the much much better) Symphonies by Dan Black and, indeed, anyone else who’s ever used Apple’s “Vintage Funk Kit 03“.

Tim: And I don’t quite know how it took me so long to recognise that, given that it’s their third most successful song ever.

Tom: The thing is, neither did I. Maybe it’s the change in tempo, or maybe there’s a change in emphasis. Pity the poor live drummers who’ll have to just repeat that Apple drum loop over and over again, though.

Tim: Funny old world, pop music, isn’t it?

Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa – Payphone

Adam Levine sounds increasingly like a parody of himself.

Tom: It’s time for a stupidly high-budget video disrupted by sound effects!

Tim: That is BRILLIANT.

Tom: In fact, it’s so distracting that I’m going to put an unofficial lyric video in here, and we can work from that instead.

Tim: Oh, fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uTF9Z6cjb4

Tom: Adam Levine sounds increasingly like a parody of himself; there’s a fine line between “recognisable voice” and “Kermit the Frog”. Still, he hasn’t crossed it yet, and when the chorus is this good I think we can forgive occasional bits of nasality. And the usual one or two swear words – just enough to create an “explicit” version to seem edgy, but not so much that they have to censor every other word.

Tim: Indeed – edgy is cool, whereas Kid Cudi just sounds like he’s got a particularly bad stutter.

Tom: Oh wait! It’s time for a rap bit that announces itself with a good bit of profanity.

Tim: Hooray!

Tom: It’s not as bad as it could be, though; Wiz Khalifa’s always had a more laid-back flow that fits into a pop record. Here’s my general rule for rap middle eights in 2012: “it could be worse; it could be Pitbull.”

Tim: That’s true. It also doesn’t last particularly long, which is nice. Actually, strike that—it does, but I was too engrossed in that first video to notice it. Oh well.

Tom: Good song though.

Tim: Indeed, and we must ensure that it gets top 10, so that Radio 1 are either broadcasting explosions over the airwaves or the official expletive-filled lyric video over the internet.