Instinct says I'm where I need to be

It's true I didn't fall hard for writer and producer Brian Kennedy's last work with Jesse McCartney--"It's Over" was "fine" for me. Still, anyone who in the space of one year can give us Rihanna's "Disturbia," Chris Brown's "Forever" and "Electric Guitar," and Jennifer Hudson's "If This Isn't Love" is obviously someone worth keeping an eye on.



I'm glad to report that I'm much more taken with Brian's latest work with Jesse. "Crash & Burn" is, like "Body Language," a new song for the re-edition of Departure, but, unlike "Body Language," it's not straight-up kitsch. "Crash & Burn" doesn't cry out "I am DIFFERENT from what you are used to hearing. I have something you've never heard before. Listen to me!", but it's had me playing it over and over again.

A piano meets more electronic beats, some cute and floating along the top of the song and others buried deep at the bottom of it, which push out the piano for the bridge and chorus (or chorus and post-chorus, which might be a more accurate description). The second part of the middle eight flirts with entering the realm of the floating electro-pop glory that Chris's "Forever" did, but the song pushes forward with its momentum too much to ever completely pause and surrender to the moment. That's a good thing, though: the deepest pulses and the "oh, oh, oh"s from Jesse are so quick-paced that "Crash & Burn", though not hugely quick in tempo, ends up feeling much quicker than it is due to the insistency of it. The end result is a pop-R&B song that is vaguely dancey without being dance, tormented without wallowing in torment, forward pushing without losing restraint, pretty and fluid without lacking structure or energy.

Oh, and catchy. Part of that is due to those great "oh, oh, oh"s mentioned before--choppy but still human--but the bridge or the proper chorus (depending on your perspective) delivers a proper catchy melody that doesn't rely on repetition.

The title might lead you to think that the musical accompaniment to the on-the-path-to-destruction relationship the narrator's engaged in would be melodramatic. Jesse stays in his comfort zone, though. He's never required to deliver vocal fireworks or, for that matter, emotional fireworks; he gently begs for a truce in the opening verse, but the closest he comes to letting you see the moment when the pain hits him is in those "oh"s, short and bittersweet. That actually works for Jesse, though all the contrasts throughout the song cause a strange juxtaposition of nearly celebratory beats sometimes bubbling up (particularly at the end of that middle 8) and more plaintive but lovely verses.

In short? A pretty modern mid-tempo pop song with a few production tricks up its sleeve and a great bridge/chorus melody--complete with the perfect pause before Jesse sings "S.O.S.," emphasizing the first letter in just the right way--that make it something worth repeat plays. It's more like "Forever," "Electric Guitar," and "If This Isn't Love" than "Disturbia," but all his work is starting to give me a real sense of what Brian Kennedy is best at and who he is as a music maker...and I'm liking what I'm hearing.

Now I don't speak Spanish, Japanese, or French

Jesse McCartney's "Body Language" is nearly everything I hoped it would be. Hyper-cute urban-glossed catchy pop with ridiculous lyrics ("breaking it down articulately" plus FUN WITH LANGUAGES).



I'm open to being convinced otherwise (Jesse does a decent job with "Rock Ya"), but so far, when we're talking about his nominally more R&B direction, Jesse's shown himself to be best with this hyper-cute mid-tempo pop that uses the aforementioned urban sheen to barely disguise just how poppy and kitschy it actually is, as opposed to, say, the ballads or the edgier and less melodic songs. "Body Language" doesn't approach the brilliance of its predecessors "Leavin'" and "How Do You Sleep," but it's a respectable entry into this era of Jesse's work.

In other news: BWO. As I mentioned, Swedish newspaper/tabloid Expressen recently allowed us to listen to the album in advance, but Big Science, the group's fourth studio album, is out tomorrow. I feel pretty pleased with it, but I'm going to elaborate on that in a future post since after allowing myself to indulge on Sunday I cut myself off from the album so I didn't overplay it before I got the full thing properly. As I'm a bit pressed for time now, though, I do want to say that the next single, "Right Here Right Now," is great (though to be completely honest on my first listen and after so much build-up around it, I didn't quite see the big deal; I quickly came to love it, though, and it may very well be my favorite song on the album at this point). Quick favorites (in no particular order) that haven't been fully thought through and are basically based on only one only-just-took-place listen since Sunday:

Right Here Right Now: BWO in sound, but with some more strings. It's not the sometimes menacing electro drama of Prototype, but this is still the BWO we now--maybe more Halcyon Days BWO, which I'm fine with. As I mentioned somewhere, the up-tempo remix of "You're Not Alone" reminded me of September's "Satellites" in its beat and "Right Here Right Now" has a little of that, too, though much toned down and overlapped with those lovely strings and that lovely pretty melody and with some kind of "Chariots Of Fire"-esque choral moments tossed in.

Rise To The Occasion (proper--not Expressen--quality): also mid-tempo-ish, but with more of an up-tempo feel than its technical tempo would make you think. Poppy. A catchy female vocal hook (sung by Märta of Cocktail Studios, according to Oswalds Popcorn) seals the deal on this already catchy song. Oswalds Popcorn compared it to Ace of Base, only modernized, and that's spot-on.

Rhythm Of The Night: the song opens with that classic BWO sound (you'll know what I mean when you hear it--it shows up throughout Prototype). Also really catchy. Wow, I really shouldn't be attempting this at all if I'm not going to be able to put the proper time into coming up with good descriptions until later. Anyway, maybe kind of like a slightly slower "Gomenasai." Not slow, though.

Shoot From The Heart: maybe the most "dance attack"-type song. It's still more on the pop side than the electro side, though.

In Too Deep: I've yet to see anyone else write positively about this song, let alone call it one of their favorites, but it really is for me (I think perhaps its placement and hearing the album through as a whole via Expressen helped). BWO go for one of those washing-over-you mid-tempo songs, but this time it actually works for me instead of seeming too chintzy (and yes, I realize I just got done praising a song with the word "kitschy" a few paragraphs up) and manages to get under my skin. Thankfully, the electro sounds here are smooth instead of that buzzier electro sound used in "Give Me The Night" and "The Bells Of Freedom," which I was really beginning to fear would characterize most of their future work. It was fine for "Give Me The Night," but I like my BWO smoother, a la "Gomenasai."

Thunderbolt: the Empire Music song. The beginning of "Thunderbolt"'s chorus isn't quite as melodic as that of other songs, but it's still a fun song (and it basically has an A chorus and a B chorus anyway), as well as also one of the dancier ones.

That was kind of ridiculously uninformative and poorly descriptive. I'll try to actually do a proper write-up when I have more time. My general comment would be that the sound here is generally more...middle of the road? That's not the right phrase (especially since it comes with a negative connotation), but I wouldn't say you're getting anything edgy or abrasive for most of the album. On the one hand, I'm much more satisfied with it than I was with Fabricator, so it's won at least one fan who was beginning to feel a bit alienated back. On the other hand, I can see it losing them the people who really go in for the harder electro sounds as well as not winning back people who loved Prototype but not much more. I feel really pleased with it, though: I'll admit their experimentation with other genres (see "Love Came Crashing Down" and "Burning Down The House," for example) isn't my preference, but there is enough here of electronic pop BWO--and, more importantly, good electronic pop BWO--that I feel satisfied.

Buy BWO's new album, Big Science, here (physical).

Next up: maybe something about Måns. Or Erik. Or Lily. Or not.

#36 Jesse McCartney, "Leavin'"

If you got a man,
Why don't you tell him that

I'm leavin', never to come back again
You found somebody who does it better than he can
No more makin' you cry, no more o' them gray skies, girl we flyin' on a G5, G5

How on Earth did this song ever take off on American radio to the extent that I can refer to it as "overplayed"? I'm not complaining, mind--I love it, and have since I first played it over and over and over again when it first came out; much like OneRepublic & Timbaland's "Apologize," despite its omnipresence on the radio, I never fail to stop, listen, and sing along every time I hear it.

A bit like an Americanized and chipmunk-less version of Shayne Ward's "If That's OK With You," "Leavin'" was part of former boy bander and teen pop star Jesse McCartney's urban makeover, one which I still find completely ridiculous but funny in an enjoyment enhancing way. I had few music related moments this year that were more fun that laughing at Jesse's use of language that he's nowhere near cool or "street" enough to pull off.

As I said earlier this year, though, the urban sheen of "Leavin'" is really just a gloss to disguise the fact that it's by far Jesse's poppiest and cutest material since his first solo album and probably the kitschiest thing he's ever done (incidentally, I was listening to Ryan Seacrest do the American Top 40 2008 countdown and nearly drove off the road when Jesse used "kitschy," the word I've been using all along for this song, to describe it; I didn't think anyone else around my age used that word). It's a song that's constantly light on its feet, with a Jamaican-sounding xylophone part, high pitched electronic beats, a casually tossed off reference to Beyoncé, and Jesse staying in a sort of middle singing zone, neither whispered ballad nor fast-paced up-tempo in his delivery--he spends the whole song singing as if he's reclined back in some lounge chair while making passes at a girl. And sure, maybe he's trying just a little too hard to be cool, maybe he's not quite believable as a hipster lothario, but his attempts to win our attention sure are awfully cute, aren't they? Poppy, cute, catchy, easy to sing along to--maybe it shouldn't have been such a surprising success. "Leavin'" sounds like the summer, and even its kitsch is endearing.

On a personal note, among several objections I held against Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love" was my belief that there was no way that Jesse McCartney, a co-writer of that song, would ever receive the near unanimous praise and massive success of that song if he was ever to release a song as good as Leona's version of "Bleeding Love" (NOT if he was to release his own version of "Bleeding Love," just a song as good as Leona's version of it). Though Internet commenter praise for "Leavin'" wasn't as universal, it looks as if, given "Leavin'"'s success in the U.S., I'll have to let go of at least a little of that baggage.

Find it on: Departure

You're flirting with the music like it's your beau

Important facts about Darin's new album Flashback that you need to know (there will be a proper review--you know, written in an attempt at measured language--coming later):

• "Seasons Fly," Darin's favorite track, was co-written by Linda Sundblad and Johan Bobäck, the team behind Elin Lanto's "Speak 'n Spell." It's also co-written by Darin.
• Darin's co-written all but two tracks, in fact (those two being "Karma" and "What If").
  
• The bridges (pre-choruses) to "See U At The Club" and "Girl Next Door" are AMAZING. Or maybe I should just say that I love them--I'm always anticipating when I'll get to hear them again and, if you think I don't mime singing along to the "sexy body" and "naughty naughty" bridge of the former, you are crazy.
  
• "Road Trip" is SO. CUTE. and SO. POPPY that finally listening to it in proper quality was what turned me into the aforementioned pile of goo.
• There are additional bonus tracks (besides "What If"), though they may not be on all editions of the album--probably just digital, I'd guess. The important thing is that they are a good quality recording of that live ballad version of "Breathing Your Love" I linked to a while back, a radio edit remix by The Attic of "Insanity" (I ADORE their reworking of "Who's That Girl," so getting another remix of a Darin track from them is like someone has and a new track, "Brought Me Back," co-written by RedOne.
• "I lost my license, but I could still drive you crazy, baby" is ALMOST the new "not only does your body bang/but I miss the conversation too."
• If I am not obsessed with some of these tracks for quite some time to come, something is wrong with me.
• You can buy it digitally right here, right now, regardless of country (albeit in DRMed WMA format, but that's easily remedied by burning to CD and ripping back). Did I do that the instant I discovered it, regardless of having already preordered an autographed copy of the album? Without a moment's hesitation.

I should really post something like "See U At The Club" or "Girl Next Door" or "Flashback" or "Seasons Fly"--all edgier, more mature, or more dancefloor friendly--but I simply cannot resist posting "Road Trip." I've been craving this track since we first heard a clip of it back in that making of video, and I literally could not be any happier now that I finally own it. Pure uncorked pop joy.

OK, scratch that: I think I'm going to go with "Girl Next Door" instead, even if it isn't necessarily the most original track on the album (there are a few moments of kind of "really? There was nothing better to say?" lyrics, but it's all made up for by the whole "but I never made it to your crew" [or whatever he's saying there] section and the song's general greatness). If you love pop, though, you NEED to hear "Road Trip."

It'll only be up for a really short time, though.

Next up: as if I'll have the ability to think about anything other than this album for the next few days. Tomorrow I'll probably be gushing about some other track.

You heard what love can do to you

Dear person in control of the music at my local dining hall,

I love you. I know we've never met, but what obstacle can age or gender possibly be? If you're a girl or gay guy, I want to be your best friend and if you're a straight guy, I want to date you. Usually we just get some radio station piped in (usually country or oldies), but lately, at certain times, we're getting stuff that's infinitely better. The Backstreet Boys' greatest hits? Jesse McCartney (second) album tracks? New Kids on the Block's "Twisted"? It's like you're communicating to me via one of those high-pitched dog whistles--no one else understands or is even aware, but I totally get you.

Please write back. I need to know what your hours are so I don't accidentally walk in while "Ring Of Fire" is playing again.

XOXO,
Poster Girl