Rihanna asked,“What’s My Name”, and Drake and Rick Ross answered. Drizzy and the Teflon Don teamed up for a track called“Made Men”, referencing RiRi quite a few times in their collab, which will reportedly wind up on Ross’ fifth album,God Forgives, I Don’t. (Anyone else giggling at that album name? Cory Gunzprobably isn’t.) Did they say anything Rihanna should be worried about? Jump below to give it a listen.
“That ’65, I call it Rihanna/ It got a red top, but it’s white like Madonna,” raps Ross (who also calls his Buggati Coupe“Katy Perry”) over a foreboding beat.
Drizzy comes in with his own line about his ex-turned-pal RiRi:“One of my baddest women ever, I call her Rihanna / But that’s ’cause her name is Rihanna,” echoes Drizzy. Rhyming Rihanna with Rihanna? Genius! It’s almost as good asrhyming“bananas” with“bananas”.
Okay, there’s nothing too terrible here (besides Drake’s attempt at forming a rhyme) that should threaten Rihanna and Drake’s friendship. We’ll leave it to Chris Brown to continuenot-so-subtlydiscussing his ex in his songs.
What do you think of“Made Men”? Should RiRi jump on the hook and make this one a hit?
As Chris Brownlooks ahead to a new year full of promise, you’d expect him to spend some time honing his sound, or perhaps to pursue new (or at least new-old) directions, as he did on hisplayfulIn My Zone 2mixtape. What you would not expect is for him to try sounding like a second-rate Soulja Boy, which is what he does in“Look At Me Now”, reportedly the first single from his upcoming— andpossibly jumbo-size—F.A.M.E.album. We missed this one amid apoppingNew Year’sweekend, but it’s not too late to check out the vapid track Breezy chose to ring in 2011. Listen below.
Over a beat that evokesthe Dougie, Brown sings that he’s still riding high (in a yellow Lamborghini, to boot) before venturing off into a typically tasteless discussion of his manhood. If the song has a highlight, it must be the razor sharp verse from Busta Rhymes, sounding more nimble than we’ve heard him in forever. Not even Lil Wayne’s rhymes quite compare, though if he’s feeling rusty, we’d understand.
In the end, though, this song is supposed to declare the return of Chris Brown, and no matter how much he may want to be seen in a new light, we’re guessing this isn’t it.
Katy Perry doesn’t just want toentertainyou ortitillateyou — she wants you to be a betteryou. And in her previously unreleased dance track“Part Of Me”, she gives a kiss-off to a boy who just wasn’t good enough for her. And she inspires you to do the same. Don’t change yourself for a man, ladies! (Unless it’s yourlast nameafter getting married — that’s acceptable.) Jump below to listen to“Part Of Me”.
“This is the part of me that you’re never gonna ever take away from me,” sings Katy.
Katyallegedlyrecorded this track with Dr. Luke during herTeenage Dreamsessions, and it may be on a re-release of her#1 album. Though it’s perfectly innocuous, we think they made a good call keeping this one off the album– it’s uplifting, but lacking the spark of other inspirational tune,“Firework”.
What do you think of“Part Of Me”? Tell us in the comments.
Stunningsongstress Alicia Keys shares the joy of new motherhood in“Speechless”— an unexpected surprise released as part of Monster Mondays, the digital singles series created by herstylishhusband Swizz Beatz. The new jam samples Kanye West’s“Devil In A New Dress”and it finds Keys reuniting with rapper Eve for the first time since their 2002 hit“Gangsta Lovin’”. Is the result sweet or schmaltzy? Listen below.
AsNeon Limelightnotes, Aliciamentionedback in October (shortly after the birth of her son, Egypt) that she felt“a song coming on”.
But she may have rushed it out— ”Speechless” comes off as a little generic, despite surely heartfelt lyrics and the rock-guitar fuzz under Alicia’s piano. And the verse from the typically tough-talking Eve doesn’t add much:“”In the morning when I rise up/ Go to the window and I smile, put my eyes up/ Stare in the clouds, like,‘Wow, look at my luck.’” she raps.
Don’t worry though— Alicia herself says thatit won’t appearas a single on her next project. As Swizz says in this promo video,“This should be a treat for the fans.”
It’s hard to think of anyone who is more ready to leave 2010 behind than Chris Brown— which may be why he can’t stop talking about the future (said to include collaborations withJustin Bieber,Bruno Mars). Heck, Bieber’s evenencouraging him. Brown hasn’t made it easy on himself— just this week he’s beenforced to apologizefor more offensive tweets. But he’s clearly wondering what’s next: check out newly surfaced“Where Do We Go From Here”, in which Brown teams up with Pitbull to contemplate the next chapter. We can’t think of a more appropriate song to end 2010— listen below.
Produced by Jim Jonsin, the track seems intended for either Pitbull’s next project or Brown’s upcomingF.A.M.E.
Brown soars on the chorus, asking““Where do we go from here / World, tell me please / Where do we go from here / I want the world to tell me please / Where do we go from here / Somebody please let me know / Where do we go from here / I want the whole world to show / Where do we go… and I don’t wanna do it alone / I want the world to dance.”
But beyond that the song is really a showcase for Pitbull’s verses, which he uses to rap about surpassing limits:“I’m here to show the world what it is to make something from nothing,” he says.
Whether Brown himself can overcome all the obstacles he’s set up for himself, however, is another question.
Justin Timberlake says he hopes he’s“not done”recording music— and indeed, he’s evidentlyworking on a track with Drake(or,possibly Cody Simpson). But for the moment, we have to make do with what we have— which means checking out this newly surfaced track,“Take You Down”. Rumored to be an unfinished demo produced by the Neptunes, the track is a stomper. We’d like to think it means a new JT album might surface by the end of 2011— is our excitement justified? Listen.
“Let me get that drink now for you / I’ll keep it filled tonight / A little secret for you / I’m a gentleman before midnight” Timberlake(?) sings on the verse, sounding like he’s ready to bring sexy back over a pounding drum line. There are a couple of points where the vocals don’t sound quite like the JT we know, so we’ll withhold final judgement until we hear some kind of confirmation that it’s legit.
It’s not like Timberlake has abstained from the studio altogether— in recent months he’s appeared on new tracks byDiddyandGame, so it’s not impossible that he’s been laying down other new tracks.
Is this the Timberlake jam you’ve been waiting for?
It’s never easy to sum up an entire year of pop music.Trustus,we’vetried. But when you’ve spun through all the lists, recaps and reflections, recognize that the way to really review the year in music is to listen to 2011— all at once. And there’s no better way to do that than withDJ Earworm’s franchise,“The United State Of Pop”. Listen toEarwormmash up Billboard’s top 25 songs of the year, and read his thoughts on what it all meant. (Fair warning: there’s a lot of Ke$ha). You know you’ve been waiting for this— how does this year’s edition measure up?
The DJ himself sums up the major shift in this year’s pop music themes as articulately as any other pop pundit we’ve seen (and here’slast year’s mixfor reference):
In 2010, pop has gone into serious all-out party mode. In 2009 the music was encouraging us to pick ourselves back up after being knocked down again, and to rock out to some great dance music while your at it. This year’s music tells us to keep going now that we’re up and having fun. In fact, the fun seems to be in such overdrive that it borders on recklessness. Usher urges us to ‘dance like it’s the last night of your life”, and Katy Perry wants us to “run away and don’t ever look back”. Even thesongs that aren’t about parties have parties in their videos, like this year’s entries from Mike Posner and Lady Antebellum… It’s a great thing about music that you can leave your worries and lose yourself in the moment. In our current world of dance pop culture fantasy, this takes place at a club, where you can drink, meet the most amazing person you’ve ever met, and where as Ke$ha says, “the party don’t stop”.
It’s a work of art— and of course, it’s filled with clever transitions (Ke$ha singing“ain’t got no money in my pocket” into Bruno Mars singing“I want to be a billionaire”, Katy Perry singing“no regrets” into Bruno Mars singing“there’s not a thing that I would change”, etc.).
