“One of the strongest pre-choruses we’ve had for a while.”
Tim: I’d warn about naughty words coming up, but given the sentiment I don’t think she’d really want me to.
Tim: Well, let’s start with docking a considerable number of points for “I can’t hide my feels”, but then quickly add points back again for pretty much all the rest of it.
Tom: Really? On what grounds?
Tim: We’ve got one of the strongest pre-choruses we’ve had for a while, and that chorus melody is repetitive enough, but not unpleasant enough, to get stuck right in and be enjoyable.
Tom: Ah, it just doesn’t work for me: a bit too repetitive, a bit too monotone. Mind you, I’m mostly just giggling at the album being called “Lady Wood”, so you know, my opinion’s not worth all that much right now.
Tim: Oh, right. Well, it’s my favourite Tove track for a while, and I’m very happy she’s back on top.
Tom: Hurr.
Tim: Boy, you really do just keep coming with those today, don’t you?
Tom: I’d have skipped past it, but I recognise that name: Seeb are the Norwegian production team who turned Mike Posner’s whinefest into a big club hit. This is going to be good, surely?
Tom: Yes. Yes it is.
Tim: It is indeed.
Tom: I’m not entirely convinced by those pitch-shifted vocals, but it seems to be Seeb’s trademark and I can deal with it, because the build up into that chorus — the first of the two hooks — is just absolutely glorious.
Tim: That whole chorus is good – I wasn’t sure at first on the wisdom of repeating the same line four times, but then I realised it was all there just to drum it right in, so that come the second chorus, with the more sensible two occurrences, we could chant right along with it.
Tom: I was clapping along and dancing in my seat on the first listen. I immediately hit replay at the end. For me: this is a good track.
Tim: Track: yes. Video: unforgivable. If you’re having a video focusing on a line being drawn, moving around, it’s basically the law that at the end you pull out and show a finished picture, that you’ve cunningly been drawing all along. I realised it was probably going to be this way when it started again for the second verse, mind, and definitely when it all went 3D, but still, NAUGHTY.
Tim: And oh, I should have listened to more than the first thirty seconds before typing that intro, because it started out so promisingly.
Tom: I think you should have taken a few more minutes of reflection before typing that intro, but never mind. The music: and particularly, that terrible chorus.
Tim: Right, because it starts out with almost a nice tropical vibe, happy first verse, all set for an upbeat chorus. But then it happens, and oh, the disappointment. I don’t know if it’s autotuned or some other effect there, but whatever’s going on with that vocal just isn’t pleasant to listen to. The second verse is nice, mind, as is the closing fade out section. All in all, though, with the other choruses and middle eight: I never thought I’d ever need to do this, but I’m going to have to retract my earlier YAS QUEEN. I’m sorry, Hanne.
“More effort was put into the video than into the actual track.”
Tim: You may remember Anton Ewald; he’s back after a while off, and has ditched his surname, because why not? Video note: nothing technically naughty, but it’s fairly graphic, and a tad disturbing, so I wouldn’t watch it at work, or with your parents in the room.
Tim: And that’s decent enough, more or less – I can’t shake the feeling, though, that more effort was put into the video than into the actual track.
Tom: Apart from the bit where it just appears to be him dancing with four men who’ve just left the office, yes.
Tim: The first time I played it I was too entranced by the video to pay much attention to the music; the second time and as I’m listening to it now… ehh.
Tom: You’re absolutely right: switching between the tab with the video and the tab where I’m writing this, I find I’m much more interested in the video than the song.
Tim: I’ll happily listen to it, sure (though I’m not that keen on whatever vocal effect they’ve put on him), but only really as a background track. Really, I’m just not as engrossed by it as I think the video thinks I should be. PRIORITIES PLEASE.
“4 and a bit minutes denigrating the entire human race.”
Tim: This was anonymously suggested following our occasional “unconventional messages” theme, and, well, it certainly fits the bill.
Tim: Certainly takes a fair amount of guts to start a song off with “Murder lives forever and so does war”, and even more to spend the next 4 and a bit minutes denigrating the entire human race. It was never released as a single because, well, even if it’s true it’s hardly a message people are likely to rush out and pay to be told. On the other hand: it’s not an unenjoyable track, and after a few listens it’s actually quite catchy, so I’m happy with it.
Tom: It’s a grower, isn’t it? Mind you, a lot of that album is: I remember really disliking it on first listen, but hearing it back months later I can still remember the melodies. I still don’t like it — but I can remember it, and that’s a start.
“I think it’s time we had a serious discussion about pineapples”
Tom: D Wayne Love? That’s a reference hardly anyone’s going to get, but I’m going to make it anyway.
Tim: Fair enough. This lad, though, is Dutch, with vocals provided by Jack, from our fine country, and the track popped up on my New Music Mix playlist last Friday. And I think it’s time we had a serious discussion about pineapples and the like.
Tim: First things first: I really like this track. The production’s fantastic, vocals are great, decent lyrics, and a good melody. I like the genre as well, but let’s face it: it’s a ludicrous genre.
Tom: Well, there are a lot of ludicrous genres out there. And is this really a genre, or just a taste for a particular style of synth patch? We didn’t start calling it “questionable-Jamaican-rap-middle-eight-pop” after Peter Andre blazed a trail in the 90s, did we?
Tim: No, but then questionable Jamaican rap middle eights didn’t make their way into multiple tracks every week for over eighteen months (and counting). Maybe I’m only now waking up to the cynicism inherent in the music industry, but I can’t help thinking that if this track had been produced two years ago, we’d have had a country guitar in that post-chorus instead. Suddenly, though, Kygo stuck that Passenger remix online, and everybody’s idea of heaven went from being on a tractor to being on a beach surrounded by cocktails and women in skimpy bikinis, and BOOM.
Tom: And I don’t really have much more to say about this track. It’s a decent track. It’s not going to be a floor-filler, but it’ll do in the middle of the set. You’re right, though: it’s following the path set by others.
Tim: Right, because next stop, every man and his copy of Logic Pro is downloading all the marimba and steel drum plugins they can get their hands on – this week alone, we’ve got soundalike tracks from The Veronicas, The Vamps and Maroon 5, and even I’m getting a bit bored of it. Will it ever stop, and when?
Tim: I don’t know – to be honest, I don’t even know really what kind of point I’m trying to make here, other than playing this stuff out loud when temperatures outside are barely hitting double figures is inherently ridiculous, and inherently relaxing and reassuring at the same time. Until it gets entirely boring and uninspired (like that Maroon 5 track), then: BRING ON TROPICAL HOUSE AND FRIDAYS AND 🍍 AND 🍹.
Tim: The Magnettes are a pair from Sweden comprised of Rebecka Digervall and Sanna Kalla, and are here today to present episode two of “Where Else Has Tim Heard That Chord Progression?”
Tom: I mean, technically last time it was a melody, but okay, let’s roll with this.
Tim: Pedant, and either way it’s probably not a game show that has a particularly long lifespan, but then you said that about Tropical Fridays, and who knows what’s coming up tomorrow?
Tom: 🍍
Tim: The third and first half of the fourth section of that bass loop, any idea? Fairly sure it’s some sort of rock track.
Tim: Oh, I do hope not. Aside from that, perfectly decent pop/rock track – I particularly like that rowdy “ah-ah-ah-ah” section out of the middle eight – and there’s not a lot of female-fronted stuff like around at the moment. So welcome along ladies, please help yourselves to a microphone. And a manual on how to write an ending.
“A nice little number for you with moments of wonder”
Tim: Hanne is from Norway, and has been off for ages but now she’s back with this, a nice little number for you with moments of wonder in there.
Tim: And it’s listenable and enjoyable from the get go, really, but, as with so many songs, it was only when I reached the chorus that it really took hold of me, because it has a lovely melody to it. So lovely, in fact, that I’d swear I’ve heard it, or a very similar one, previous to this, but I’m damned if I can work out what it is.
Tom: Really? ‘Cos I thought you’d have spotted that one right away. It is a lovely chorus melody, and it’s from someone we’ve talked about a lot here.
Tim: Regardless, it’s very lovely indeed. Actually, no, not regardless. It is lovely, but every time I hear it I am reminded of the other one. But WHAT IS IT, TOM? WHAT IS IT?
Tim: I’ve more or less given up on The Sound of Arrows – Stefan’s said they’re working on some new stuff, but that was when I saw them a year ago and nothing seems forthcoming (except the soundtrack for a recent Swedish TV version of The Neverending Story, which was pretty nice). Therefore, I need a new source for pleasant dreamy pop, and so I clicked on this, from a new Swedish duo, with high hopes…
Tim: …and didn’t really have them met.
Tom: Really? Because this sounds like the sort of thing you’d love.
Tim: The problem is, it wasn’t until that chorus hit at 1:27 that I was actually drawn in and engaged by it.
Tom: I’m surprised by that. Because the part where the introduction kicked in woke me up. Granted, the first verse isn’t quite as exciting, but I literally sat up and listened.
Tim: Listened, yes, but not excitedly. Thing is, it’s a lovely chorus, and one of my favourites of recent times. But then all too suddenly (but largely predictably) it drops down way too low for the second verse. Sure, it’s back up for the second chorus, and up again after the dip for the middle eight, but I just want something heftier. Perfect genre, too light.
Tom: Nearly two years ago, we had one of the biggest misses we’ve ever written: you didn’t like Uptown Funk, and I said “maybe I’ll like it after a few more listens”. It was then one of the biggest tracks of the year, and I still love it.
Tim: Hmm – maybe, although you did say “maybe after a couple more listens”, and I still think it’s massively overrated. I think we get a pass there.
Tom: So I’m really wary of saying this, because I’m aware of just how wrong I could be: but I don’t like this. Or at least, I don’t like this on first listen.
Tim: And I really really don’t, straight out of the gate, because AARGH that first vocal is just horrible, and 22 seconds of that is often 21½ more than I’ll happily take. Oh, the things I do for this site…
Tom: It’s like Uptown Funk, only not as good. The kitsch, the production, the not-quite-retro styling. Even the video feels just Uptown Funk, only not as good.
Tim: Yeah, I can’t disagree with any of that; given my aforementioned continued lack of love for the earlier track, I’ve really not got much time for this at all. Even the title is weird, and to be honest I don’t want to listen to it again to pick out any specifics – I’m happy with “it’s an unpleasant remake of Uptown Funk”.
Tom: But here’s the thing: I did hit replay on it. And by the end of that second listen, maybe there was a little bit of my brain that was going “huh, was I wrong about this”?
Tim: And a big bit of my brain just answered that question “No, no I was absolutely not.” I did relisten to it, as a service to our reader, and still nope.
Tom: I don’t think I’m wrong about this. I’d still bet on this not being an Uptown Funk, or anything close to it. Full marks for getting a jetski in the Bellagio fountains, though.
Tim: I will grudgingly accept that that is a worthy accomplishment.
