Tag Archives: Single

Someone Like You (Single Review) – Adele

Adele - Someone Like You - Single Cover

Adele recently announced Someone Like You as her US follow-up to her mega hit: Rolling In The Deep.

Already released in the UK as a single off her international multi-platform monster of an album, 21, Someone Like You got to #1 after a brilliantly heartbreaking show-stopping performance at the Brits. Why review the song now? Well, what better opportunity to write an extensive praise of such brilliance than when this unconventional choice for US radio is preparing to hopefully become a hit there as well?

Someone Like You is a song about the regret that you feel but cannot share. It’s a deeply personal song about all the words Adele couldn’t say to the person to whom this song is meant. Someone Like You starts with things Adele heard about him. He settled down, found a girl and married her. She tries to feign courage by asking him why he’s shy, since it’s very unlike him. And then she confesses that she she had hoped by turning out of the blue, uninvited, and by seeing her face, he’d be reminded that for her, it’s not over.

And then Adele sings the heartbreaking chorus: “Nevermind, I’ll find someone like you. I wish nothing but the best for you two…” You can feel the desperation in her voice as she sings those lines. Her voice breaks when she wishes nothing but the best for them two. And then she begs: “Don’t forget me, I beg. I remember you said, sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead.”

The song proceeds to the path of memories. “You’d know how the time flies, only yesterday was the time of our lives… we were born and raised in a summer haze, bound by the surprise of our glory days,” alluding to a summer romance that took place between the two before she apologizes again about showing up out of the blue uninvited, hoping that when he had seen her face, he’d be reminded that it’s not over.

Someone Like You is not a song about Adele being bitter. It’s about her being in love – so in love, in fact, that she can let the person go and wish nothing but the best for him, regardless of how much that might hurt her.

Someone Like You is a hypothetical song that Adele is singing to herself, not her former lover’s face. She’s imagining herself standing in front of him and giving her heart away. The whole scenario of how he would act and how she would response is in her head, sort of like the countless times when we imagine scenarios and play them out in our imagination before trying to act on them. But she knows acting on the plot she set up with “Someone Like You” is not the correct thing to act on. She cannot show up out of the blue and have such a confession for him. It would be wrong from her part. So even though she wants him to remember her and even though she still loves him, she hopes, in the song, to hopefully find someone like him, someday, to make her feel that sensation of love. With whom she can share her memories, her moments and her life.

Rolling In The Deep was a song that basically said: “you’re leaving? fine. Go. I don’t care.” With Someone Like You, Adele is crawling back slowly to her former lover, acknowledging that she’s not as strong as she thought – “who would have known how bittersweet this would taste?”

On Someone Like You, Adele delivers a brilliantly chilling vocal performance that is so full of nuances that it delivers the lyrics without much effort. There is a sense of vulnerability with her delivery that channels the pain she’s feeling when she was recording this masterpiece. And she makes it look so easy. How so? Every single performance she has delivered of this song was even better than the album version. Her Brits performance got this song to go to #1 in the UK almost overnight due to the massive sales she generated after bringing people to tears.

What’s more of a testament to the strength of this song is that it’s deeply personal. The lyrics were written in a way not to let it seem open-ended. It was written for a specific person, with no intention of making it something that everyone can relate to. At least that’s what Adele said. But everyone related to Someone Like You because everyone found something that struck a cord within the specific vulnerability conveyed among the lines of that song.

With Rolling In The Deep, US pop radio took a bold step in the correct musical direction. It gave a deserving and great song the chance to be a huge hit and it ended up staying at #1 for 7 weeks at the Hot 100. With Someone Like You, one only hopes pop radio would also give a gut-wrenching ballad the chance to be something big. Simply because Someone Like You is one of the greatest songs released this year.

Listen to the album version of Someone Like You here:

And the Brits live performance:

If I Die Young (Single Review) – The Band Perry

 

Newly released to American pop radio after dominating the country charts last year, If I Die Young is the second single by country newcomers: The Band Perry.

Already certified 2x platinum, you feel such a success is the most natural thing for a song of If I Die Young’s caliber.

“If I die young,” Kimberly Perry starts the song that she wrote by herself, “bury me in satin, lay me down in a bed of roses, sink me in a river at dawn, send me away with the words of a love song.”

The opening lyric sets the hypothetical tone of the acoustic-leaning song. And it is through that tone that the narrator, Kimberly, continues her story. “Lord, make me a rainbow, I’ll shine down on my mother. She’ll know I’m safe with you when she stands under my colors.”

The whole song is a testament to Kimberly Perry’s command of language and crafting interesting images that do not feel forced. On the contrary, the whole song, though the theme might be morbid to some, is a jubilation to life. And everything in it fits like the pieces of a puzzle. If I Die Young boasts very sharp lyrics with highly imaginative detail, building a story of a girl who’s contemplating how it would be if she were to die young.

On the second verse, the narrator laments on the fact that she never knew love. “There’s a boy here in town, says he’ll love me forever. Who would have thought forever could be severed by the sharp knife of a short life? Well, I’ve had just enough time.”

And as is natural with everyone thinking about death, the prospect of value comes up. It’s a recurrent topic how the things you own get more valuable when you pass away. And that issue is tackled in If I Die Young as well.

A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I’ll sell ’em for a dollar
They’re worth so much more after I’m a goner
And maybe then you’ll hear the words I been singing
Funny, when you’re dead how people start listening

And then the song comes full circle with the narrator singing the chorus one last time before elaborating on what the love song should be: “The ballad of a dove, go with peace and love. Gather up your tears, keep ’em in your pocket… save them for a time when you’re really gonna need them, oh”

If I Die Young might be a song with death in its title but it’s mostly about living. It’s not about the narrator inviting the listener to live to the fullest, but it’s more saying that: “even though my life was cut short, I am satisfied with the time I’ve had – I’ve had just enough time.”

Nothing is more testament to how people perceive If I Die Young than the response the three members of The Band Perry received because of that song. The most famous story regarding the song comes in the form of a letter than Kimberly received, containing a necklace with a letter from an eighteen year old girl who lost her best friend to cancer. The girl was contemplating suicide, mourning her friend, and If I Die Young came on the radio. The girl heard so much life in that song that she sent The Band Perry her most prized possession, the necklace her friend gave her before passing away.

If I Die Young is also a song that touched people from older generations. While performing the song at a concert, The Band Perry saw an older woman standing in the scorching heat with a sign on which the words: “She died young” were written, signed with her daughter’s name.

Kimberly Perry delivers the song brilliantly. She doesn’t under or over-sing. She handles the melody with restraint and impeccable nuances. Her slightly weathered voice adds magnificence to the song, as well as the subtle harmonies that her brothers deliver in the background.

You cannot listen to If I Die Young without feeling something. It is a song that crosses age boundaries and touches everyone regardless of personal background or even musical preference. We’ve all had someone who died young. It is a song that calls after you to live and enjoy life. It calls on you to love your life and to always have no regrets. It’s no wonder it stands out on pop radio among all the electronic music being played. It rises way beyond clubbing songs that you would hear before and after it, simply because this is a raw, authentic and real.

Listen to If I Die Young here:

Sparks Fly (Single Review) – Taylor Swift


Taylor Swift just announced Sparks Fly as the upcoming single off her 3x platinum album: Speak Now.

The song, which has existed for a few years now, was given a slight makeover and included, due to overwhelming fan demand, on Taylor’s newest album: Speak Now.

The song opens: “the way you move is a full on rainstorm and I’m a house of cards…”, a line that I think is lyrical gold. It also sets the bar very high for the song to have such a line open it, add to that the very catchy music to which this line goes.

Taylor then proceeds: “you’re the kinda reckless that should send me running but I kinda know that I won’t get far… and you stood there in front of me, close enough to touch, close enough to hope you couldn’t see what I was thinking of.”

Sparks Fly is a song about falling for someone you shouldn’t fall for: be it someone older, someone younger… but at the same time, you can’t but be mesmerized by that person.

“Drop everything now, meet me in the pouring rain, kiss me on the sidewalk, take away the pain. Cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile. Get me with those green eyes, baby as the lights go down. Give me something that’ll haunt me when you’re not around” Taylor sings on the chorus. And the chorus is very heartfelt and raw. You feel on it the helplessness of Taylor as she tries to get away but she’s too tangled by him.

“My mind forgets to remind me you’re a bad idea”, she sings on the second verse, on which lies most of the change from the original version of Sparks Fly, which was sung live at a concert a few years back. She declares: “I’m on my guard with the rest of the world but with you, I know it’s no good. And I could wait patiently but I really wish you would drop everything now, meet me in the pouring rain…”

And then comes the song’s bridge. Up to this point, Sparks Fly could have easily been on Taylor’s previous albums. It has the rhythm, the catchy tune and the lyrics that would have definitely worked with the theme adopted by Taylor for her previous album Fearless. But then she reworked the bridge to make it sound like this:

I run my fingers through your hair
And watch the lights go wild
Just keep on keepin’ your eyes on me
It’s just wrong enough to make it feel right
And lead me up the staircase
Won’t you whisper soft and slow
I’m captivated by you baby
Like a firework show

And this is where the song rises. Some might think these lyrics are corny but think about it this way. If Sparks Fly plays out in real life with these lyrics in the bridge, you know what will happen after being led up the staircase. It’s that simple. This is a theme that Taylor wouldn’t have tackled on her previous album.

Ultimately, Sparks Fly will be the song off Speak Now that will be Taylor’s smash hit on the charts, possibly recreating the monster success of “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story“. Why so? because it manages to merge together two key elements: the authentic Taylor sound that she had with Fearless, along with the maturity that is present throughout Speak Now. It is definitely not the best song on the album on which it is found but for its purpose of giving Taylor a sure radio hit, Sparks Fly will excel. After all, this is a song that sustained years of being put on a shelve and that is a testament on its power. Don’t be surprised if sparks fly when this comes on the radio.

Listen to Sparks Fly here:

Monster (Single Review) – Paramore

Monster is the new single by Paramore that will serve as the lead single of their upcoming album as well as the single off the new Transformers movie.

It is also the first single by Paramore since the group’s founders, the Faro brothers, decided to leave them due to “irreconcilable differences” with lead vocalist Hayley Williams. And the song is all about that.

The Faro brothers have had many statements issued regarding their departures, portraying Hayley Williams as a person who made the whole band revolve around her and turning their sound into a music label product. Monster is Hayley’s way of firing back. And she is firing with an automatic.

The song opens up: “You were my conscience, so solid, now you’re like water” to set the tone for the dying relationship before she ends the first verse with “I let my heart go…. But I’ll get a new one and come back for the hope that you’ve stolen.”

And then she starts singing the chorus:

“I’ll stop the whole world, I’ll stop the whole world
From turning into a monster and eating us alive
Don’t you ever wonder how we survive?
Well now that you’re gone, the world is ours”

And in case the previous lyrics were not enough, the second verse is only there to let the doubters know that this, in fact, is Hayley’s manifesto against the Faro brothers: “I’m only human, I’ve got a skeleton in me
but I’m not the villain, despite what you’re always preaching.”

I have found the song to be absolutely brilliant. You can’t even discern the fact that Paramore are two members less when you hear the scorching electric guitar on some parts of the song. And since the lyrics are so personal to her, Hayley’s delivery is impeccable. I have always been a fan of her vocals and this song only fortifies that. Monster is the song that you’d expect from Paramore as their lead single: guitars and drums and the rock style they’ve come to be known for. Some people are saying that their isn’t much innovation in their sound with their song. And I agree. But the question is: does an artist constantly need to innovate to stay relevant? Absolutely not. That doesn’t mean that an artist should rehash the same stuff that made him/her popular in the first place, but that doesn’t mean that whenever an artist becomes popular, he’s not allowed to follow the formula of what caused that popularity in the first place. Besides, it’s not like Paramore have singles constantly being overplayed on radio for them to establish a “sound” that becomes glued to listeners’ ear. Yes, I’m looking at you Ke$ha.

Paramore is a band that will have the stigma of being a “teenager” punk-rock band, constantly stuck with it. Why? because that is how it started. Monster is the first step in the direction of them going the more “adult” route because the topic being discussed, while applicable to teenagers and their lives (the song is about love and loss after all), is quite mature. And not only is Monster a great leading single with meaning, but it’s also insanely catchy. Try not to get the line “I’ll stop the whole world from turning into a monster” stuck in your head and then get back to me.

All in all, I absolutely love this. Call it guilty pleasure or simply music that I like, but Paramore is one of those rare bands whose songs just click for me, without being grating on my nerves. And Monster is a good, very good song.

Listen up:

Remind Me (Single Review) – Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood

To say the hype for this duet was great is an understatement. Everyone (and yes, I do mean everyone) who had heard the song was gushing about how brilliant it was. Some even called it the best thing to happen this year. So naturally, that sets the bar very high for the song. Does Remind Me deliver?

It does. On every single account!

Appearing on Brad Paisley’s upcoming album, This Is Country Music, to be released on Monday May 23rd, Remind Me is a song about a couple wanting to rekindle their romance. They reminisce over the days where they used to kiss in public, not caring about what people said, when the woman missed her flight because they lost themselves in each other’s embrace… but their fire is dying and they want to find that spark again. (For the full lyrics, click here).

So naturally, a song with Remind Me’s context demands vocalists who are capable of delivering the message credibly. And what better than country music’s leading vocalists to deliver the song. To say Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley do not shine on this would be a travesty. They excel on a topic that is way outside both of their comfort zones.

I have never heard Carrie Underwood sound more vulnerable on a song before – and she has had many songs dealing with vulnerability. Brad Paisley is the perfect counterpart for Carrie in this song. He exhibits restraint as he tries to seduce Carrie’s character. She whispers back the words “remind me” on the first chorus with impeccable falsetto, penetrating your heart. You feel her longing to her significant other to remind her of how they used to be. The nuances she gives the song are truly stunning as well. It is no wonder Brad Paisley called her today’s best singer in any format of music.

Remind Me is a give and take song between both characters, uniting them both on the song’s bridge, right after a brilliant guitar breakdown, where they tell each other that if “you still love me, don’t assume I know”, remind me. The song is also very real. Every couple has been through that exact same circumstance. Be it after seven weeks, months or years, each couple gets to a point where they feel the need to remind each other of what once was. The imagery the song uses (waking up in the guy’s old shirt, turning out the lights and not sleeping…) is very raw and helps get the song across.

When you listen to Remind Me, you will know that this song will burn through the country charts left and right, up and down. There’s no way this won’t be this year’s biggest hit and win every single award imaginable next year. And people had said both artists were past their prime. This song is there to remind everyone of the caliber Brad and Carrie are made of. And if they keep on giving us music like this, let them keep on reminding us.

You can listen to Remind Me here: