Monthly Report: April Singles
1. Solange - "T.O.N.Y."
This song's whole concept ("Tony actually was The Other Night, oh whY?") is some of the most painfully executed wordplay in a current single outside of "If You Seek Amy," but it's just so damn catchy that I like it in a way I never thought I'd like a Solange song. I still have no idea if the bit about Solange getting pregnant is just part of the video or the actual subtext of the song's lyrics, but that's kind of become part of the way I interpret the song and has made me like it more, probably because I found out I was having a kid around the same time I first heard it.
2. Young Money Entertainment - "Every Girl"
Maybe it's just that this song started to get huge right when the weather was getting warm, but it really feels like summer in that way that only a couple songs do every year, and is probably Lil Wayne's best AutoTune R&B jam to date. I'm pretty hesitant to co-sign anything Drake is involved in, since he seems to be everything I find annoying about Kid Cudi times ten, but at the moment it's pretty impossible to hate on this song, hilariously crude chorus and all.
3. James Morrison f/ Nelly Furtado - "Broken Strings"
This might be my adult contempo jam of the year, it just sounds so pretty and yearning and vaguely sad and the male/female harmonies are really nice.
4. Rich Girl f/ Bun B - "24"
A few years ago, Rich Harrison was one of the most exciting producers in R&B. But he got cold around 2006 (right about the time Beyonce managed to release 8 singles from B'Day while completely avoiding his tracks), and pretty much disappeared from the charts or even major label releases in general. So it was pretty surprising when his label and pet project girl group kinda came out of nowhere with a pretty hot single, even if it sounds like he might've made the beat back during his hot streak (even the synth stabs are straight out of "Soldier"), and the singers all sound like he tried as hard as possible to find Destiny's Child doppelgangers. Even the guest MC seems like kind of a 2005-ish choice. Still, it's as dope now as it would've been back then.
5. Soulja Boy Tell Em f/ Gucci Mane and Shawty Lo - "Gucci Bandana"
I never really minded Soulja Boy or any of the singles off his first album (and I kind of loved "Donk"), but I've really nurtured a serious hatred of "Turn My Swag On" and "Kiss Me Thru The Phone." Still, the success of those awful awful songs has at least led to his sophomore album ,once thought a flop and left for dead, getting a second chance and the one song I really liked finally having a video. The Reaction Band's take on "Gucci Bandana" has almost supplanted the original for me at this point, though, one of the only Go-Go versions of a popular song that I've really loved the last couple years.
This song's whole concept ("Tony actually was The Other Night, oh whY?") is some of the most painfully executed wordplay in a current single outside of "If You Seek Amy," but it's just so damn catchy that I like it in a way I never thought I'd like a Solange song. I still have no idea if the bit about Solange getting pregnant is just part of the video or the actual subtext of the song's lyrics, but that's kind of become part of the way I interpret the song and has made me like it more, probably because I found out I was having a kid around the same time I first heard it.
2. Young Money Entertainment - "Every Girl"
Maybe it's just that this song started to get huge right when the weather was getting warm, but it really feels like summer in that way that only a couple songs do every year, and is probably Lil Wayne's best AutoTune R&B jam to date. I'm pretty hesitant to co-sign anything Drake is involved in, since he seems to be everything I find annoying about Kid Cudi times ten, but at the moment it's pretty impossible to hate on this song, hilariously crude chorus and all.
3. James Morrison f/ Nelly Furtado - "Broken Strings"
This might be my adult contempo jam of the year, it just sounds so pretty and yearning and vaguely sad and the male/female harmonies are really nice.
4. Rich Girl f/ Bun B - "24"
A few years ago, Rich Harrison was one of the most exciting producers in R&B. But he got cold around 2006 (right about the time Beyonce managed to release 8 singles from B'Day while completely avoiding his tracks), and pretty much disappeared from the charts or even major label releases in general. So it was pretty surprising when his label and pet project girl group kinda came out of nowhere with a pretty hot single, even if it sounds like he might've made the beat back during his hot streak (even the synth stabs are straight out of "Soldier"), and the singers all sound like he tried as hard as possible to find Destiny's Child doppelgangers. Even the guest MC seems like kind of a 2005-ish choice. Still, it's as dope now as it would've been back then.
5. Soulja Boy Tell Em f/ Gucci Mane and Shawty Lo - "Gucci Bandana"
I never really minded Soulja Boy or any of the singles off his first album (and I kind of loved "Donk"), but I've really nurtured a serious hatred of "Turn My Swag On" and "Kiss Me Thru The Phone." Still, the success of those awful awful songs has at least led to his sophomore album ,once thought a flop and left for dead, getting a second chance and the one song I really liked finally having a video. The Reaction Band's take on "Gucci Bandana" has almost supplanted the original for me at this point, though, one of the only Go-Go versions of a popular song that I've really loved the last couple years.
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