Another Year In America August 20, 2009

[koganbot]

Miley and Jay-Z storm the charts but can't beat the Peas.

Miley Cyrus "Party In The USA": She enters a Hollyweird club, nervous, an outsider, her clothes unlike everyone else's, but then she hears a familiar song, Jay-Z or Britney, and she immediately throws her hands in the air and feels at home in the music: the party's on, and she's in it. LUCKY FOR HER THAT EVERYONE DANCES EXACTLY THE SAME IN THE USA, IN ALL PLACES AND AMONG ALL SOCIAL GROUPS, SO AT LEAST SHE DOESN'T HAVE TO FEEL SELF-CONSCIOUS ABOUT HER DANCING. I'm giving this a borderline tick, but the delivery is too careful and pedantic, and in fact she doesn't seem to inhabit the music. Also, an opportunity was lost: there could have been electric excitement if, instead of just naming Jay-Z and Britney, she'd sung a line from each, taking on their voices, bringing us to them. I mean, I wouldn't expect her to go, "You little fuck, I got money stacks bigger than you," or "You want more? I'll give you more." But at least something, brief flashes of their character. But maybe she and her collaborators decided that such character would be disruptive. BORDERLINE TICK.

Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Kanye West "We Run This Town": Real life outshouts any meaning the song itself generates. This is Rihanna first time back from the beating, that's pretty much all I can think of, and any voice that isn't Rihanna's is an interruption. But also, Jay-Z seems to be rolling off the beats rather than dominating them, maybe deliberately de-emphasizing himself, or maybe he no longer has his heart in braggadocio. And when Kanye finally shows up and revs up, he sounds plenty direct but it's as if he's tacked-on at the end, like a different song, plying his metaphors for boobs and other sexual parts, why and who cares? So it's really just Rihanna in the spotlight, her voice the same instantly recognizable burnt wood as always, burnt sorrow, same not-exactly charisma and not-exactly personality, just an unmistakable sound that's been the voice of American music for two years. But now there's this unavoidable wonderment, like, who is she? A confused girl walking into wrong relationships like any other confused girl? A strong woman who gets battered for it? A nag? A simp (which I doubt)? I don't know. But I want her voice to reassert itself, which of course it does, sounding the same as always, taking center stage and I want it to triumph. I'm afraid people will be mad at her for making them uneasy, her getting beat-up being something they'd rather not be reminded of. Yet here's the voice, unmistakable, and two gentlemen accompanying her, and the track's not all that, but she is. TICK.

Jessie James "Wanted": Pop country that emphasizes the pop, "ooo ooo ooo" in the verse, then a hot-chick blare in the chorus. Strong voice, doesn't try to cute up a song that's naturally cute, in fact toughens it too much, shouts the shout, growls the growl. It's good, but I'm not able to cross the distance to it. It really needs Jessica Simpson singing it. BORDERLINE TICK.

Comments

[skyecaptain.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the whole Jessie James album sounds like an aborted Jessica Simpson project -- Jessica would have done wonders with that and "Blue Jeans," a few others, but Jessie is fairly middle-of-the-road as far as personalities go, which makes her grating when she tries to be "edgy" or funny.