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koganbotKe$ha holds off Artists For Haiti, a result that some people have qualms about, but not me. After all, there are far more avenues for getting money to Haiti than for getting money to Ke$ha.
Artists For Haiti "We Are The World 25: For Haiti": I like the tune, always have. Hard to evaluate such a smorgasbord: RedOne and Rickey Minor keep it flowing smoothly, except Miley Cyrus always sounds raw and off in group contexts, which isn't necessarily bad for the song, or her. Pink is at ease with the over-emoting. The soul-r&b singers inevitably sound generic, though they're the glue that holds everything together. The rap adds force, T-Pain and Wayne on AutoTune representing for music's present, and I'm glad Wyclef gets a good spot of time at the end to sing for his place of birth. And there is one unexpectedly transcendent, musical moment: Michael Jackson piped-in from the past at the start of the middle eight, "When you're down and out, and there seems no hope at all," softer but more penetrating and connected than anyone else - by "connected" I mean that while everyone else is adding his or her style to the song, Michael is the song, not only because he believes in such world-redeeming platitudes (a lot of the others do as well), but because his voice embodies the ache and optimism of a time before charity singles were routine, and embodies his own very personal, isolated ache, and his world-reaching projection. TICK.
Josh Turner "Why Don't We Just Dance?": Baritone love man tells his honey that to each other they're special and sexy, an evening at home, don't need to impress the world, and that to make a special night of it doesn't require them to go out on the town. My description here is too analytic and clumsy to communicate how easily and well the track does the difficult job of keeping its balance - not to say I'm not generally pissed at country for insisting that the extraordinary be balanced by the ordinary, but that doesn't mean the requirement can't inspire good work, and this isn't bad. BORDERLINE TICK.
B.o.B ft. Bruno Mars "Nothin' On You": Rolls along too fast to do right by the tune's potential beauty, but that speed is right for B.o.B to skip lightly with a pleasant love rap, and to toss off and forget the de rigueur double-meaning of "nothin' on you." TICK.
Artists For Haiti "We Are The World 25: For Haiti": I like the tune, always have. Hard to evaluate such a smorgasbord: RedOne and Rickey Minor keep it flowing smoothly, except Miley Cyrus always sounds raw and off in group contexts, which isn't necessarily bad for the song, or her. Pink is at ease with the over-emoting. The soul-r&b singers inevitably sound generic, though they're the glue that holds everything together. The rap adds force, T-Pain and Wayne on AutoTune representing for music's present, and I'm glad Wyclef gets a good spot of time at the end to sing for his place of birth. And there is one unexpectedly transcendent, musical moment: Michael Jackson piped-in from the past at the start of the middle eight, "When you're down and out, and there seems no hope at all," softer but more penetrating and connected than anyone else - by "connected" I mean that while everyone else is adding his or her style to the song, Michael is the song, not only because he believes in such world-redeeming platitudes (a lot of the others do as well), but because his voice embodies the ache and optimism of a time before charity singles were routine, and embodies his own very personal, isolated ache, and his world-reaching projection. TICK.
Josh Turner "Why Don't We Just Dance?": Baritone love man tells his honey that to each other they're special and sexy, an evening at home, don't need to impress the world, and that to make a special night of it doesn't require them to go out on the town. My description here is too analytic and clumsy to communicate how easily and well the track does the difficult job of keeping its balance - not to say I'm not generally pissed at country for insisting that the extraordinary be balanced by the ordinary, but that doesn't mean the requirement can't inspire good work, and this isn't bad. BORDERLINE TICK.
B.o.B ft. Bruno Mars "Nothin' On You": Rolls along too fast to do right by the tune's potential beauty, but that speed is right for B.o.B to skip lightly with a pleasant love rap, and to toss off and forget the de rigueur double-meaning of "nothin' on you." TICK.
