--> I don't too often listen to adult-contemporary radio, which is probably why I was a little late in hearing Aretha Franklin's Put You Up On Game, featuring Fantasia. Still, the song is pretty amazing. More so than a majority of aging artists, Aretha knows how to balance her seniority in the music industry with the challenge of catering to an increasingly younger radio-listening audience, so that songs like this one, along with her 90's hit A Rose Is Still a Rose are timeless enough to appeal to any age. Put You Up On Game tries a little harder than Franklin's duet with Lauryn Hill to appeal to contemporary culture, but lines like "Don't get it twisted, I ain't hatin" are far more dated than I think Aretha recognizes. Thankfully, a majority of the song is an absolute achievement in bridging the generation gap between two phenomenal vocalists and their respective fans. And not so surprisingly, Fantasia holds her own quite nicely next to Aretha.--> I'm still not speaking to Justin Timberlake after a certain 2004 incident, but I can't even pretend like his randomly leaked single(?) If I… isn't one of my favorite songs of the moment. Timberlake's falsetto suits him quite well, and the fact that he uses it fairly rarely keeps me interested in hearing it as often as possible. Future/Sex was a mess of an album to me, and the fact that every song worth listening to on the entire set was released as a single tells me that Justin knew the album was an inconsistent clusterfuck of sound too. If I…is the sort of music that should consume Timberlake's focus on his next album. The relaxed, oldschool-lite 
production of the track is comfortable without ever venturing toward boring. This is the sort of music that Robin Thicke dreams of recording, instead of the increasingly dull material he currently delivers. The T.I. feature is predictable, but fitting. This track proves that the two have a chemistry that isn't exclusive to 2006's My Love.
--> Awhile ago I said that Slim's (of 112) album was a waste of good material, and I stand by that today. However, the album's second single Good Lovin' is one of the best songs to be completely ignored by radio since Janet's Feedback. With Ryan Leslie picking up the hook, and Fabolous injecting some energy near the bridge, the track is consistently satisfying from beginning to end. Slim sounds as good as he ever did on any up-tempo 112 song, reminding listeners that he can handle a dance track with the same ease as a ballad. For whatever reason, I refuse to give Ryan Leslie a fair chance (probably because he introduced the world to Cassie), but between this and his solo single Diamond Girl, I might have to rethink my attitude toward the producer turned singer.
2 comments:
Wow, I don't think we agree on anything in this post. I thought all the songs were fairly weak to severely mediocre. If this is the best we have to offer, I will stick to my 70s LPs.
And I am no Robin Thicke fan but if he recorded a song as godawful as that JT one, I would laugh him out of the building. I expect that mediocre, brain dead mess from JT. Robin, however, is way too good for that crap.
Yeah, I dig Robin more than Justin....
But the Aretha joint is nice...:)
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