I am feeling very cynical about Cee-Lo's new album

i like it a lot.

(Did they send you the new album or the greatest hits? The best of has those "El Tiburon" and "El Venao" which are great except I'm probably forgetting their actual titles since I don't know Spanish.)

Maybe Chuck didn't hear the songs where Cee-Lo talks about murdering people, easy to miss that if you just play it in the background. And if anything this one is less r&b than the last one...

oh forget it, I like too much music. I must learn to cultivate my hate a little more.

So yeah, I guess that does disqualify me on the Cee-Lo credibility front! Carry on, then.

I'm listening to Cee-Lo now, and I guess I get what some/most of you feel about it. Might be a sequencing issue, some of the harder cuts towards the middle/end of the record. I haven't changed my mind though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAV0XrbEwNc&feature=player_embedded

this is better than i expected from the title (i can imagine it being in something like a judd apatow film) but he seems too in love with himself these days. too much 'arent i clever' smugness in his voice. i know hes trying to hit that retro 60s market with the new album but i still wish he would just go back to the type of stuff he used to do in goodie mob. his believable 'pop' moments are pretty hit and miss.

i think its that hes susceptible to way more corniness as a singer than he ever was as a rapper. he needs to get over his dre3000 crisis and ditch the singing.

wtf r u talking abt that song is great?

that song is cool, i was talking more about the other stuff ive heard that i think is from the new album.

This song is just awesome. I have listened to it at least 10x since yesterday morning. "Ain't that some shit!" <3 <3 <3

Leftsetz is busy spreading the word about this on his twitter and e-mail, and discussing the youtube and how it can't get on the radio. Catchy but retro and noveltyish imo.

i think its that hes susceptible to way more corniness as a singer than he ever was as a rapper. he needs to get over his dre3000 crisis and ditch the singing.

― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Saturday, August 21, 2010 10:26 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is pretty rong, Andre kinda started singing more and more over time and eventually making it part of a "bored with rap" pose but Cee-Lo has always sung way more (and way more capably) throughout his whole career.

although there totally is a cutesy smugness going on with a lot of his stuff, yes. i'm just not sure he'd have a lot to offer as a straight-up rapper at this point in his career.

i like this song. kinda hard not to. its certainly better than 'crazy'

is there any way in the world this song isn't the biggest hit of the year? it's going to be on everybody's grandma's facebook page by about monday afternoon.

many ways

mainly the song is called "fuck you"

will still be #1.

(as "F You" or something)

and anyway, however billboard deals with it, there are going to be approx. 800 million kids walking around singing it.

meh idk if it will be a hit but i looooove it

p-fork's song-of-the-year?

it's kinda fun (in a boring way), but just seems waaay too derivative for me on 1st hearing.

I am feeling very cynical about Cee-Lo's new song.

is this really what excites ppl in life? i mean...

http://tumblinerb.com/post/988418888/whats-your-thoughts-on-the-new-cee-lo-songs

noz totally spot on here

its certainly better than 'crazy'

wrong

When did subtlety die?

makes me think of jamie liddell type classic soul facsimiles but like thats not a bad thing

noz otm but i like jack black so

First play of the clean version of F**K You tonight on Trevor Nelson's Radio 1 show 7pm - 9pm. There's a lot of debate about how there can possibly be a clean version but we won't spoil the surprise. Tune in.

please be farts, please be farts

I mean, honestly, is this the first time critics have all universally spazzed out over a pop song RIGHT AWAY since "Hey Ya?" Like even "Crazy" took a while to take off.

Also, back in the Hey Ya days, there was no twitter/facebook and blogs were still sort of vanity projects. This seems kind of unprecendented in being a song """""everyone"""" loves in the span of 24 hours.

i don't love this song, i think it's terrible

NEW CEE-LO SINGLE IT FLY @ U FACE

ha

go on and tell u little boyfriend

^^^^ I KNOW

pretty much the best 1 second of music this year!

don't get all the "AW MAN CEE-LO AIN'T THAT GREAT A SINGAH KNAWMEAN". i mean nobody said the dude was Luther Vandross, but he has a cool singing voice that is sprinkles of Al Green mixed with some James Brown-esque rawness. i always loved his vocals at the beginning of Dungeon Family's "Crooked Booty"

dunno who yr railing against there santa. ryan pitchfork hates on cee-lo's voice?

mostly the original post, which I realize is like 6 years old, but that's the latest album of Cee-Lo's I've heard (cuz I never listened to the Gnarls Barkley other than "crazy" and "transformers).

I mean, honestly, is this the first time critics have all universally spazzed out over a pop song RIGHT AWAY since "Hey Ya?" Like even "Crazy" took a while to take off.

Also, back in the Hey Ya days, there was no twitter/facebook and blogs were still sort of vanity projects. This seems kind of unprecendented in being a song """""everyone"""" loves in the span of 24 hours.

― travis markers (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, August 22, 2010 9:04 AM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is an odd thing to say. lots and lots of popular singles in the last few years had like an instant reaction across the internet.

there is a rictus-grinning "hey cos we all like retro huh guyz!" communal aspect to it all i guess

as in the communal aspect is built-in, ppl vibing off other people rather than a personal relationship to the song

just heard this. made me smile through almost the whole sone (except where he mimics someone whining). i love it. and the choir -- especially delivering those lyrics -- is an inspired touch.

makes me think of amy winehouse type classic soul facsimiles and thats a bad thing

you are a facsimile of suck

i just played it for my wife. she loved it.

you are a facsimile of suck

― the master of unlocking (San Te), Domingo, 22 de Agosto de 2010 11:48 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

man, don't be like those twilight fanboys. It's just my opinion.

i agree with whoever upthread said this will be a monster hit. but so far, it doesn't look like it's commercially available (well, legally, anyway).

I mean, honestly, is this the first time critics have all universally spazzed out over a pop song RIGHT AWAY since "Hey Ya?" Like even "Crazy" took a while to take off.

Also, back in the Hey Ya days, there was no twitter/facebook and blogs were still sort of vanity projects. This seems kind of unprecendented in being a song """""everyone"""" loves in the span of 24 hours.

― travis markers (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, August 22, 2010 9:04 AM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is an odd thing to say. lots and lots of popular singles in the last few years had like an instant reaction across the internet.
--richie goingham (some dude)

cool name one

bon iver, skinny love.

all the critics were like, "f--k YEAH."

I can picture this song at the end of an Adam Sandler movie in 2015 and everybody going 'oh, no...'

Reaction to "Single Ladies" was pretty immediate. Most other "instant reaction" type moments of the last decade weren't very recent... The Black Album, The Grey Album, Hey Ya, Marshall Mathers LP & The Eminem Show, Trapped In The Closet, Kid A, Crazy In Love, Work It, American Idiot, You Know You're Right...

"Fuck You" is instantly catchy with horribly embarrassing lyrics.. I hear no soul within this song at all, especially compared to "Crazy."

I can see this song's lyrics appealing to fans of mainstream lowest-common-denominator country music.

http://imgur.com/Pbcnm.jpg

checking for soul

Soullessness. It got squeezed out. There's not much.

i don't agree with whiney that it's the first pop song that people have immediately creamed over since "hey ya" but i will say that i've personally seen people who NEVER post things on the internet about music ever (facebook friends, sportswriters etc) post a link to the song with a note about how amazing it is, how it's the best song ever etc

i don't really remember this reaction to a song across the spectrum in a long ass while, but then again, anecdotal

as in the communal aspect is built-in, ppl vibing off other people rather than a personal relationship to the song

― r|t|c, Sunday, August 22, 2010 8:43 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

youre overthinking it

how much of this reaction would go to any popular retro track

i dont think its the retro sound that is making this resonate w/ people. the profanity in the chorus alone means ppl arent getting into this for a 'sounds like motown!!' vibe -- or theyre digging how it takes a familiar template & adds some contemporary language for being pissed off abt an ex on top, pretty universal feeling. not sure whats so 'horrible' about the lyrics

im defending this now cuz i know im gonna be sick of it in one week but i dont really see any 'irony' in his performance that noz is talking about here either ... certainly that was true in his 'dressed as characters from lebowski'-era shit but this is just a song at this pt?? & i 'get' why my irl friends think its a funny song

raphael saadiq's like, "damn, guess i should have swore."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qur_IWsj8mE

Electric Six, "Flashy Man" (2008)

He won't apologize because he's not sorry!
He's the xbox to your atari
Watch out, here comes the flash!

raphael saadiq's like, "damn, guess i should have swore."

― da croupier, Sunday, August 22, 2010 12:12 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

this was basically the same logic behind amy winehouse's success (obv a bit more dimension to that but not dissimilar)

I can see why people dig this song but between the E6 track for the xbox/atari line (which is like the tenth best on that album) and Harry Nilsson's "You're Breaking My Heart" for the "omg he said fuck you" this is just yet another faux-motown ditty in a time of plenty.

(tenth best track on Flashy, I mean, there's umteen better lines than the "xbox/atari" one)

the profanity in the chorus alone means ppl arent getting into this for a 'sounds like motown!!' vibe -- or theyre digging how it takes a familiar template & adds some contemporary language for being pissed off abt an ex on top

the line after the double-dash gets at it. the appeal of the song is, to me, (a) the compelling groove and vibe combined with (b) deploying that chorus/cuss-phrase in a song where you wouldn't expect it. once you get familiar with it, tho, it may lose it's appeal fairly fast (which is maybe why you think you'll be sick of it in a week).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02lXLiFsRtE

1972

ha that is a pretty bogus bite

cool song

still like this more than 'crazy' -- the production alone just feels looser

Deej is otm, it'll get old fast. But the other key thing about it besides retro+catchy tune+omg swear words is the ebullience of it. The whole thing is fun, it takes a lot of pleasure in its pissiness. The vibe of the song sets the chorus up so that it feels joyful.

it does a good job sounding both pissed & accepting

Despite the "hook" elements actually being more like hurdles, I gotta admit this song is growing on me.

Reaction to "Single Ladies" was pretty immediate. Most other "instant reaction" type moments of the last decade weren't very recent... The Black Album, The Grey Album, Hey Ya, Marshall Mathers LP & The Eminem Show, Trapped In The Closet, Kid A, Crazy In Love, Work It, American Idiot, You Know You're Right...

― billstevejim, Sunday, August 22, 2010 11:28 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Yeah, remember how when "American Idiot" and "The Black Album" leaked there was posts on Gawker and Wall Street Journal and Perez Hilton within 24 hours? I'll never forget where I was when that happened!!!! What moments that made me feel connected to everyone all at once i will treasure them

i've already forgot where i was when this song dropped so

but tbf i wasn't reading gawker, wsj and perez

oh wow but you fucking heard about you piece of shit

whiney is otm itt

jesus christ whiney do you get a million dollars if this is the FIRST SONG EVER everyone cared about at the first time? calm down.

i've heard this song 25 times today. haven't heard any beatles.

lol

this song is so boring and i haven't seen anyone mention it until ten minutes ago. on this thread.

I can see why people dig this song but between the E6 track for the xbox/atari line (which is like the tenth best on that album) and Harry Nilsson's "You're Breaking My Heart" for the "omg he said fuck you" this is just yet another faux-motown ditty in a time of plenty.

― da croupier, Sunday, August 22, 2010 5:18 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

Glad I'm not the only one who's made a Cee-Lo/Nilsson connection. I wrote something similar in the other cee-lo thread.

And Whiney OTM. This song was as much a hit in the "internet viral video" sense as it was anything else.

the video has 120,000 hits, it's A SENSATION

the youtube I saw had it at 300,000 in a day.

tape store, u pick some random shit to all caps on

Ebullient, but I still like "Yamaha" better this summer.

wonder how blogs would have reacted to joe tex's "aint gonna bounce no more (with no big fat woman)" back in the day

no, not really.

also, to answer whiney, "Party In The USA"

"party in the usa" is a pretty good answer actually

whether this is the first time someone with cred tied a decent song to a novelty hook for profit in the internet age, this is a solid example of it

but p4k type crits didn't even hop on board to Miley at all. my point is that this is a pop moment AND a critical moment, all in 24 hours

ie the world outside Singles Jukebox

i guess if you pick and choose the xact terms of yr category then yeah its totally the best eg.

haha I'd personally put the Weezer "Pork + Beans" video drop in this category, but I realize it probably didn't garner the same enthusiasm this did from blogs of all shapes and hipness

it def had a similar moment only everyone was saying "this video is funny" not "this song is GREAT", which is the point of my argument

"Gold Digger" and "My Love" were so much bigger than this, not that it matters because this song is unremarkable retro zzz

also "Umbrella" and "Single Ladies" and I really don't see that much hype about this song, I get that you're a fanboy or whatever and I'd be throwing around the same hyperbole if Cassie had a second hit, but NO

think people are still missing whiney's original point, which was just when was the last time blogs from all walks were praising a dropped youtube featuring only lyrics by bringing up Kid A and the popular hits of 03

thanks for reading my thesis, Tape Store and supplying an argument to a totally different one, you're making my weekend totally not frustrating

"umbrella" is another good answer

"singles ladies" no and "my love" had a weird release because of SINGLE CLEARANCE ONLY or w/e that voice over was

& i don't think that whiney is a cee lo fanboy

Are you really arguing that Cee-Lo's "Fuck You" had more instant (24-hour) critical love than any of those songs I just named because that's total bullshit

I look forward to rereading your thesis in two months.

the thing about "fuck you" is that it's retro enough to appeal to older people, while cee lo has enough cred in both indie and pop worlds because of gnarls to warrant mention + goodie mob for rap blogs

like, i agree with whiney that "fuck you" dropped and then all of a sudden that video link was everywhere

it was like the bieber slow down thing tbh

i don't follow whiney's cee-lo posts, but i based that comment off this comment on the new sufjan (lol) thread:

CeeLo put out a song today who gives a shit

― travis markers (Whiney G. Weingarten), Saturday, August 21, 2010 3:07 PM (Yesterday)

did "umbrella" "gold digger" and "crazy in love" get a lot of media attention pre-video? i honestly don't recall, but i think a link or two would probably be more educational than "that's total bullshit"

i think "umbrella" is the best counterargument

whiney is right in that lots of people didn't care about "party in the usa" because it was miley

i wish Usher had dropped a lyrics-in-motion video for OMG

we could probably clear a lot of lazy pre-albums drops if artists had to make one

sorry, i don't have the time to gather all the articles and blog posts from 2004, 2005 and 2007, but then again i don't see a list of sites going crazy about this song either

but 700k listens on youtube isn't that big of a deal

i think whiney ref'd three fairly disparate ones, no?

yeah "My Love" was going to be my example but "Umbrella" is definitely the biggest instant overnight talking point song of the last few years

yeah, i might concede to "Umbrella"

it was like the bieber slow down thing tbh

I'm pretty sure ILX was the second place to see that outside of the original forum where someone created it.

uh, no

and this Cee-Lo song is a great example of how meta and accelerated consumption has become where, within minutes of hearing it, people anticipate its popularity and despair over its eventual omnipresence and the memes it will inspire. Some of doing that even before the second chorus.

no, hes right xp

reddit had it, then ilx had it, then hoos posted it to facebook, then i posted it to gawker

1.6 million people have listened to that bieber thing on soundcloud

the revolution starts here

i saw the amount of links to the bieber thing that i would expect to see if the fucking president was shot

lmao

anyway this cee-lo thing is fun but its a little more "max in college" and i am pathological about hating shit that all the casual music fans/non rap fans/'media people' on my tumblr dashboard go nuts over so

nothing makes me want to hate a song more than a bunch of 'journalists' and 'bloggers' enjoying it

reddit had it, then ilx had it, then hoos posted it to facebook, then i posted it to gawker

nope, ILX had it first. I posted it on ILE when it had 1,000 hits and it was still the 16th. Reddit posted it on the 17th, a few hours later.

ILX: home to Bieber fever.

i still haven't head beiber cuz the mp3 is down and i'll be damned if i'm gonna listen to a 30 minute stream of anything

unless it's one of your speeches

reddit had it, then ilx had it, then hoos posted it to facebook, then i posted it to gawker

nope, ILX had it first. I posted it on ILE when it had 1,000 hits and it was still the 16th. Reddit posted it on the 17th, a few hours later.

― Cunga, Sunday, August 22, 2010 4:17 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

dont want to be a dick but unless you are the guy who made it... the guy who did it put it on reddit

we started lolcats too

dont want to be a dick but unless you are the guy who made it... the guy who did it put it on reddit

Then that settles that.

it's great, nowhere near as distinctive as "crazy", but definitely worth the attention its been getting. that it's a deliberately retro novelty track doesn't take anything away from it afic. will be fun to listen to for the rest of the summer and that's good enough for me.

and i say that through gritted teeth, cuz i fucking LOATHE the whole "fuck you, bitch, fucking golddigger" angle.

didn't know people were talking about this so much
fwiw:
1) nice musically
2) abysmal lyrically
3) kinda hope it won't grow on me, but afraid it most likely will
4) sounds like a hit
5) "this is better than crazy" = getthafuckouddaheah

50 Cent chimes in with the obligatory "sorry I'm rich and therefore better" freestyle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk_zLhKIE24

(good old Curtis, always trying to keep his name in the papers. but how his verse didn't reference Vitamin Water is beyond me)

i can't hate on that

this song is like if Smashmouth decided to go a little 'edgy'

ugh. that criticism alone might turn me against this song.

there is nothing worse than the thought of smashmouth going a little "edgy."

nothing makes me want to hate a song more than a bunch of 'journalists' and 'bloggers' enjoying it

― max, Sunday, August 22, 2010 3:06 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

hmm i thought u might join me in 'when i see ilxors acting like theyre more perceptive than my irl friends i rmde'

i still think this song is way better than 'crazy' & i know cee lo is persona non grata around here for not recording goodie mob records that half of yall havent even listened to in the first place -- omg gnarls barkley is so uncool!! -- but this song is good \oO/ & for the love of god theres nothing inherently wrong w/ being retro -- its how it is about it -- this doesnt even read purely as 'retro' to me any more, unless youve got saadiq dressing up like sam cooke it def codes more as 'man dont you hate feeling this way in real life, look a song has captured that mood'

the ppl on my tumblr that dig it, the ones i know in rl, the facebook friends, etc. -- i dont see any comments like "man this is like when they used to make GOOD MUSIC" or anything ... i mean im sure there are ppl out there doing that but ppl will do that to anything -- but the predominant mood im reading is ppl who just straight up identify w/ the song concept

whiney's right that this feels like a bigger event than most of the songs mentioned itt .... not sure why hes aggro about it, one listen to this song & it felt like an across the board smash

hmm i thought u might join me in 'when i see ilxors acting like theyre more perceptive than my irl friends i rmde'

― NOT FUNNY NEEDS MORE GUCCI (deej), Sunday, August 22, 2010 8:52 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha it has nothing to do with whoever being perceptive, i really have no opinion about this song, i just hate my industry, and my tumblr dashboard, and people

yeah i mean tbf i know ill be supertired of this shit w/in the week -- i just think its worth observing that as far as you can craft these things, its immediately understandable why this is doing so well

honestly would be surprised if this was a hit, but we'll see

seriously??

i mean i dont know to what degree the profanity will be an issue, but thats p much the only thing stopping this from being bigger than crazy

you realize that "crazy" was #2 in the country right?

yes

i agree, i don't see this being a hit. i REALLY like this song but i'm also a little surprised at the "universal" or w/e critical appreciation it is supposedly getting, but that's probably b/c i'm not paying attn

there's plenty of things going against this -- it's not 2003 anymore where shit like "crazy in love" & "the way you move" are all in the radio. the radio -- espn mainstream pop radio -- sounds a whole hell of a lot different now then it did then, and to say that "fuck you" would sound remarkably out of place would be in understatement -- second of all, 'cee-lo green' has never had a solo hit & his name carries no recognition with relevant pop audiences. it might be able to get radio play on r&b stations and could chart on the hot 100 too, but unabsahedly retro shit like robin thicke's "magic" or fucking maxwell whose new shit was HUUUGE on r&b stations barely scraped into the top 40 if at all

so while agree that it's been ALL OVER the internet in a weird & notable way, i don't think that it's gonna be the #1 song in the country in the year 2010

and if it becomes a hit it is not going to be bigger than a single that was #2 for seven weeks

if MIA couldn't sniff the cart with "xxxo" after "paper planes", i'm not sure cee-lo has much hope, even in a post-"crazy" world

ha, the chart

ahaha sniff the cart is a keeper

if bruno mars was singing the hook, i'd hear you tho

I think u guys are forgetting Eamon

i don't think this would make huge waves on the r&b format, even.

lmao @ bruno mars

i mean i dont know to what degree the profanity will be an issue, but thats p much the only thing stopping this from being bigger than crazy

The profanity is one of the biggest things the song has going for it. The same people who got a kick out of "Get Rage Against the Machine to be Christmas #1," will want to have this dominate the charts.

this song is an abomination, but the speed in which it has become popular is encouraging for us promoters of collective action. we are working on a similar song with a subversive message encoded.

the key to this song making a big splash on the pop charts is how soon it's going to be released to itunes et al -- striking while the viral-video iron was hot would be the smart move in this case, since so much of whether or not songs vault up the chart these days hinges on huge first weeks at retail outlets.

j0rdan you're nuts. everyone who liked 'gnarles barkley' is going to recognize 'hey that black dude from gnarls barkley' if they dont just straight up believe its a gnarls barkley song.

and stop comparing this to fukkin robin thicke & maxwell. like, seriously?? you think thats who pop audiences are gonna compare this to?

how is maxwell 'retro soul' for that matter, either? is anything that doesnt sound like ciara or the-dream 'retro' to u??

if anything the-dream's prince aping is as much 'retro' as maxwell's record was

i mean, maybe they fuck up the release along the lines of what maura's talking about, but thats the only way i dont see this at minimum going top 10 never mind top 40

it's not 2003 anymore where shit like "crazy in love" & "the way you move" are all in the radio. the radio -- espn mainstream pop radio -- sounds a whole hell of a lot different now then it did then, and to say that "fuck you" would sound remarkably out of place would be in understatement

are you saying that f--k you would have had a better chance to be a monster hit in 2003 than in 2010? if so, why?

This is going to be the freshmen-orientation jam of 2010. Post-radio single.

the "rage against the machine 4 no. 1!!!" movement ended up being strong because the x-factor is such a behemoth that people naturally would feel inclined to try to topple. this song isn't going to become a smash just because it has the word "fuck" in the title (not used particularly subversively)... what is the goliath it's going up against, the 'general state of pop music'???

are you saying that f--k you would have had a better chance to be a monster hit in 2003 than in 2010? if so, why?

― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, August 22, 2010 8:45 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

the climate of radio is different now

this could go big in the UK! doesn't necessarily mean jack about what's gonna happen in the US tho

okay, but why? is it, for instance, the growing fragmentation of the audience, so songs don't become "monster hits" as often? that explanation has some surface appeal/sounds plausible, but i'm just guessing.

deej, if you think that the listeners who have made superstars out of kesha, katy perry, jason derulo, bob, bruno mars, travis mccoy, jay sean, drake etc give a fuck about songs that came out 4 years ago, let alone the singer of a band that was a one hit wonder, then i'm not sure if you understand the way pop works right now

then cee-lo must bend them to their will. by force, if necessary.

that tune is a pretty good start.

i'm not even gonna respond to what you said about maxwell because what you said was retarded

okay, but why? is it, for instance, the growing fragmentation of the audience, so songs don't become "monster hits" as often? that explanation has some surface appeal/sounds plausible, but i'm just guessing.

― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, August 22, 2010 8:58 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

i have no idea

haha. that's fair.

in any event, i think you're underestimating a key, and basic, factor: the song is very, very catchy and very, very good. and the naughty title, cleverly deployed throughout, helps.

but -- tbf -- whatthef--kdoiknowaboutthissubject? nothing, really.

we must take away this generation's carrot and make it feel the stick. true pleasure is in submission. and to submit to this song is a step in the right direction.

yikes!

in any event, i think you're underestimating a key, and basic, factor: the song is very, very catchy and very, very good.

i agree that it's catchy & good, but a. that's incredibly subjective b. it doesn't account at all for how pop works -- if every good and catchy song was a massive hit, radio would prob be a better place atm

true pleasure is in submission

would also make a good title for a big radio hit.

yeah, that's true, j0rdan.

analogously, every time i turn on commercial rock radio these days, i wonder if i'm just too old to hear what's good or if it's as bland and grim a collection of "popular rock songs" as i've ever heard.

thank you, we finally have a title for our propaganda song!

as for what maura said about itunes -- i agree & elektra would be smart to pony up for some prominent placement on the itunes front page, but if it doesn't catch on on radio -- and i don't think it really will -- itunes will only take it so far

the stakes are high indeed

like, this song was randomly huge on itunes for a week, it hit #40 on the hot 100 & then immediately sunk like a stone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tt9V6ZgxDU

if every good and catchy song was a massive hit, radio would prob be a better place atm

i'm genuinely surprised to hear you say that, since i -- perhaps wrongly -- assumed you were a big fan of pop radio nowadays.

umm, no not really

I would love a paypal "office pool" where the cash goes to whoever can guess this song's chart position/weeks

banaka killin it itt

as for what maura said about itunes -- i agree & elektra would be smart to pony up for some prominent placement on the itunes front page, but if it doesn't catch on on radio -- and i don't think it really will -- itunes will only take it so far

― J0rdan S., Sunday, August 22, 2010 10:11 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the stakes are high indeed

― rage for the machine (banaka), Sunday, August 22, 2010 10:12 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

cannot stop laughing at this

btw deej, no solo terius hit has ever been one that sounds like prince, w/ maybe the exception of "falsetto", so your contrarianism fails you once again

max, you can't post earnestly in a thread and then bow at the feet of a troll until there's been at least 200 more posts & race has been brought up

I see you postin all earnestly in my thread and I'm like... FUCK YOUUUU

haha

i feel like i should pitch "sorry, cee-lo's "fuck you" isn't going to be a hit" to the awl

I mean the fact that the cross-subcultural Internet OMGs remind me of nothing since "Umbrella" makes me pretty much think this is gonna go #1.

i do what i want

ps i never post earnestly

i feel like i should pitch "sorry, cee-lo's "fuck you" isn't going to be a hit" to the awl

you should shout it at passersby on the street all day tomorrow.

i mean... the readers of the wall street journal and pitchfork didn't make superstars out of the aforementioned contemporary superstars

pretty sure WSJ readers make up katy perry's core fanbase.

this song isn't going to become a smash just because it has the word "fuck" in the title (not used particularly subversively)... what is the goliath it's going up against, the 'general state of pop music'???

People will do it for the naughty schoolboy factor.

And Whiney's on to something: Put me down for $5,000 it will be #1 for the week of Sept 3-10.

5K?

the stakes are high indeed

wow this sucks

and it's gonna be huge

i mean it's a perfect storm of youtube era novelty bullshit and omg it's the gnarls barkley guy!

if you don't think the clean version of this is blowing up i just have no idea

this song is golden and it's gonna explode. it's pretty damn funny too (especially those background vocals).

J0rd you are def right about blogs/p4k/wsj not being the real audience or whatev; but this def feels more like "umbrella" level populism at work than "you know who should be huge?.... ANNIE!!!"

u might be rite

is there a new season of 'america's best dance crew' or something that he coming up? that might help

I mean in the Hey Ya/Crazy/Umbrella pantheon is there a 00s major label pop song that all the crits/blogs/twit/facebook circle were going this gaga for that WASNT an actual chart hit eventually?

Like real majorlabel machine pop examples, not like "combination pizza hut and taco bell" or some shit

the clipse

Or I guess a more articulate way of saying it:

What has been the biggest 00s disconnect between crit/blog accolades and actual chart success from an ACTUAL MAJOR LABEL POP MACHINE ARTIST. (which means actual pop not "fake alt" snake oil like "santigold")

J0rd, I'm sayin popist pop not rap

And please don't counter with RAP IS POP lol GUCCI GUCCI GUCCI BRR BRR

this song is kinda cute but it has about no replay value for me, it doesn't make me want to hear it again

i would never invalidate the time i've spent in the rap blog trenches arguing over gucci mane by saying that "crits/blogs/twit/facebook circle(s)" were going "gaga" over him

Side question: what's the over/under for how soon some indie rock shithead is gonna cover this?

btw i don't deny that this might be a chart hit of some sort, i'm just saying that anyone who thinks it's gonna be as big as "crazy" or "the biggest song in the world" or prob even in the top 10 or 20 is wrong

Side question: what's the over/under for how soon some indie rock shithead is gonna cover this?

― eat, pray, love, fly @ u face (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, August 22, 2010 10:25 PM (58 seconds ago) Bookmark

10 days

I think at this point we should just take bets and see what happens

xpost and yet not

one listen to this song & it felt like an across the board smash

― some dick

yeah, but i dunno about all the instant #1 talk. i mean it sounds great to me, but the chorus is still a big hurdle, clean version or no. guess i'd have to hear the clean-up to see whether it still packs the same punch. beyond that, i don't have much faith that what i hear is gonna be what everyone else hears, you know?

Side question: what's the over/under for how soon some indie rock shithead is gonna cover this?

We need to keep Wayne Coyne off of the internet for a couple of weeks.

Same goes for the bros in Superchunk

we would change that from "off of the internet for a couple of weeks" to "shot"

This song is like the answer to a wager where someone bet ceelo a million bucks if he can have a number one single with the fuck word in the title

Yeah, remember how when "American Idiot" and "The Black Album" leaked there was posts on Gawker and Wall Street Journal and Perez Hilton within 24 hours? I'll never forget where I was when that happened!!!! What moments that made me feel connected to everyone all at once i will treasure them
― eat, pray, love, fly @ u face (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, 22 August 2010 18:49 (Yesterday)

wtf.. Congrats on the cool sarcasm.. Every example I listed answers the question correctly, with varying degrees of how intensely the reaction spread. It wasn't specified whether I should be listing music that became an internet phenomenon in under 24 hours.. If that's what you're looking for, I personally think The Grey Album is a great answer.. And to a lesser degree, Kid A seemed like a really huge deal on the day it leaked. But as I also stated, I think it's been a while since instant reaction of that sort has taken place.

J0rd you are def right about blogs/p4k/wsj not being the real audience or whatev; but this def feels more like "umbrella" level populism at work than "you know who should be huge?.... ANNIE!!!"

― eat, pray, love, fly @ u face (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, August 22, 2010 10:11 PM (56 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

u might be rite

― J0rdan S., Sunday, August 22, 2010 10:12 PM (55 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

youre a fucking asshole dude

"hmm whiney agrees with deej ... allow me to reconsider"

If only Casey Casem still did American Top 40.

btw i don't deny that this might be a chart hit of some sort, i'm just saying that anyone who thinks it's gonna be as big as "crazy" or "the biggest song in the world" or prob even in the top 10 or 20 is wrong

― J0rdan S., Sunday, August 22, 2010 10:26 PM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

and the slow backpedal begins

j0rdan i think maybe u are just not remembering what pop was like when 'hey ya' or 'crazy' were released ... its not like the charts were swarming with songs that sounded like 'hey ya.'

what does whiney's post have to do with you at all, deej

#
poormarcus1
1 day ago

cee-lo! i want to rap on this track! check out my song called "bawler" by poor marcus. we dated the same girl dude. i feel the same pain bro. i can relate.

like, those were anomalies at the time relative to the dominant sound (although, much like 'fuck you,' not really anomalies in terms of what pop audiences were familiar with ... theres already a 'rehab'-style precedent for (cough) 'retro soul')

lol @ you calling my position here 'contrarianism' though -- every message board i read including fukkin 'philaflava' is talking about how this song is gonna be a huge chart smash ...

btw i don't deny that this might be a chart hit of some sort, i'm just saying that anyone who thinks it's gonna be as big as "crazy" or "the biggest song in the world" or prob even in the top 10 or 20 is wrong

― J0rdan S., Sunday, August 22, 2010 10:26 PM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

and the slow backpedal begins

― NOT FUNNY NEEDS MORE GUCCI (deej), Sunday, August 22, 2010 11:12 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

uh i expressed the same sentiment like 100 posts ago

what does whiney's post have to do with you at all, deej

― J0rdan S., Sunday, August 22, 2010 11:14 PM (27 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

umbrella level populism?? isnt that what ive been talking about this whole thread? all that arguing & you fall back to 'you might be right'??

orly xp:

honestly would be surprised if this was a hit, but we'll see

― J0rdan S., Sunday, August 22, 2010 8:07 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

seriously??

― NOT FUNNY NEEDS MORE GUCCI (deej), Sunday, August 22, 2010 8:09 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

yeah, you're the only one who has been arguing that this song might be a huge hit

would be surprised if this was a hit, but it might be a chart hit of some sort ... takin a stand!!

you have this incredible ability to believe that if you hold an opinion amongst a group of people, a argument against that opinion is somehow a direct repudiation on deej and deej only

repudiation of*

youre hysterical responses in the last hour or so were largely directed at me t/f?

*your

peace out

i'll be interested to see if this is a hit, cos i genuinely don't know. could be, could not be. it could be a non-hit hit, like, uh, i dunno -- sweet caroline? i mean as in a song that somehow has a rich ongoing life solely of 20y/os singing it drunk

true that cee-lo has been able to have his feet in a lot of different doors over his career, so the simultaneity is worth talking about, which we are, as always.

ps i saw this on a post from ritholtz.com! who got it from lefsetz i believe.

pss banaka how do you feel about islam?

youre hysterical responses in the last hour or so were largely directed at me t/f?

― NOT FUNNY NEEDS MORE GUCCI (deej), Sunday, August 22, 2010 11:18 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

when i was directly responding to you, yes

like when i called you a retard for saying that the-dream is more retro than maxwell

btw i don't deny that this might be a chart hit of some sort, i'm just saying that anyone who thinks it's gonna be as big as "crazy" or "the biggest song in the world" or prob even in the top 10 or 20 is wrong

― J0rdan S., Sunday, August 22, 2010 10:26 PM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

honestly would be surprised if this was a hit, but we'll see

― J0rdan S., Sunday, August 22, 2010 8:07 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ok -- how are u defining hit here? just want to establish that before my 'we'll have to wait and see' post -- im relatively confident this is gonna hit some upper reaches of the chart, very very confident on top 40. but i dont want to make this 'deej says top ten or bust, j0rdan s. says anything other than top ten' bcuz that doesnt seem very sporting. ill bet top ten or bust if u are willing to bet it doesnt go top 40

pss banaka how do you feel about islam?

― goole, Monday, August 23, 2010 4:19 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

banaka are fielding questions

i dont think maxwell is particularly 'retro' & i definitely dont think thats the appeal of his sound -- at least in the strict musical way 'retro' is considered. hes not amy winehouse & hes not like that raphael saadiq record. hes only 'retro' in the sense that all soul that eschews dominant use of synths is retro but hes not doing like motown backbeats or some shit

the mid 90s was 15 years ago, dude -- i think that's sufficiently retro

banaka i request your answer here

i mean if u consider a focus on songwriting over sonics to be 'retro' exclusively 1) i think thats kinda nonsense & obscures whats interesting about both the-dream & maxwell, and 2) is so broad as to be more concerned w/ shutting down insight & playing some caricatured the lex style war w/ non-pop R&B (that even lex, as a erykah fan, obv doesnt believe) -- im not sure you even believe it, but you're letting 'retro' cover a loooot of ground if u think maxwell's appeal is limited to that

the mid 90s was 15 years ago, dude -- i think that's sufficiently retro

― J0rdan S., Sunday, August 22, 2010 11:24 PM (34 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

is it 'retro' if his career started in the 90s? is r kelly a retro artist?

if r kelly was still doing new jack swing, yes

when maxwell hops on a track with t.i. & t-pain, lemme know

does the maxwell record -- 'pretty wings' being on the charts & getting play on contemporary R&B radio & all, at least around here -- really qualify as 'sounds like the 90s'?? bcuz to me it sounds exactly like summer 2009

when maxwell hops on a track with t.i. & t-pain, lemme know

― J0rdan S., Sunday, August 22, 2010 11:26 PM (14 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

thats pretty retro -- sounds like the mid-00s

do u not get how you're stretching 'retro' as to be pretty much useless

have u heard 90s r kelly??? sounds like new jack swing what??

banaka i request your answer here

― goole, Monday, August 23, 2010 4:24 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

we oppose all religion and irrationality.

i'm not even sure what you're talking about in your last post, but clearly what i was saying that while retro r&b -- retro being a broad term here, to include shit like maxwell, thicke, even that monica joint that hit #1 -- can make a dent on the hot 100, but shit does not even come close to being a #1 hit

& don't accuse me of 'walking back' now that you've retreated from "bigger than 'crazy'" (by definition, the #1 song in the country) to "inside the top 10"

what about an alicia keys single, is that 'retro'

& don't accuse me of 'walking back' now that you've retreated from "bigger than 'crazy'" (by definition, the #1 song in the country) to "inside the top 10"

― J0rdan S., Sunday, August 22, 2010 11:29 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

um the actual quote was 'bigger than crazy IF IT DIDNT HAVE PROFANITY' so nice try

depends on which single you are talking about

but i'm not gonna go further down this hole with you, i don't actually care what your crazy ass definitions of 'retro' are based on some muddled logic that is not even possible to parse

so because 'crazy in love' went to number one can it not be considered retro? just trying to understand your logic here

dude the only muddle logic here is yours, where by definition a song being top ten makes it not retro, and a song not being top ten = retro. where maxwell is 'retro' because his career began in the 90s

wtf.. Congrats on the cool sarcasm.. Every example I listed answers the question correctly, with varying degrees of how intensely the reaction spread. It wasn't specified whether I should be listing music that became an internet phenomenon in under 24 hours..

― billstevejim, Monday, August 23, 2010 12:08 AM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Also, back in the Hey Ya days, there was no twitter/facebook and blogs were still sort of vanity projects. This seems kind of unprecendented in being a song """""everyone"""" loves in the span of 24 hours.

― travis markers (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, August 22, 2010 9:04 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ytCEuuW2_A

i mean, imo here, 'crazy in love' sounds 10x as retro as anything on maxwell's last record but ***shrugs*** im the one who thinks cee lo will follow his #2 hit in america with another top ten single

im the one who thinks cee lo will follow his #2 hit in america with another top ten single

― NOT FUNNY NEEDS MORE GUCCI (deej), Sunday, August 22, 2010 11:34 PM (23 seconds ago) Bookmark

you do realize that gnarls barkley put out six singles after "crazy" in love that no one gave a fuck about?

his last hit was very much #2, we agree

in love

you do realize that gnarls barkley put out six singles after "crazy" in love that no one gave a fuck about?

― J0rdan S., Sunday, August 22, 2010 11:36 PM (20 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

no but this seems much more obviously a hit in the 'crazy' vein, except less abstract & more specific and relate-able.

what i was saying in the original post where i brought up maxwell & robin thicke was to say that songs that eschew the sound of has defined the top 40 in the past two years can make a modest dent in the hot 100, but they have no shot of being 'massive' hits that go top 10

i think the thesis of my post was really obvious, long before deej started doing his thing

the only thing that "fuck you" has going for it that shit like "run" doesn't is the novelty of the chorus & hey, that may be a good thing for it! idk

& critically it doesn't have the stigma of being a gnarls song

& im trying to tell u that you could have said the same thing before hey ya or crazy were released -- how many top ten hits was dangermouse having?? sometimes things just work this way. its not like 2003 was a magical time of 'hey ya' pop chart slams

that is because magic does not exist.

good night.

i think the climate for songs like "crazy in love" or "fuck you" is much tougher now than it was in 2003

now i feel confident leaving it @ 'i guess well just have 2 wait & see'

you can put me down for "this is not gonna go top 40"

WELL I THINK YOU'RE CRAAAAZZZZAYYYYYYY

altho if it has a huge itunes jump for 5 or 6 days & then hits like #38 the following week & then falls away really quickly w/o getting any radio traction i wouldn't be surprised, but we'll just have to wait & see

let's have this argument again when the new feist single drops

altho if it has a huge itunes jump for 5 or 6 days & then hits like #38 the following week & then falls away really quickly w/o getting any radio traction i wouldn't be surprised, but we'll just have to wait & see

― J0rdan S., Sunday, August 22, 2010 11:45 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i will give u a pass if this happens, otherwise, imo, top 10

i think the climate for songs like "crazy in love" or "fuck you" is much tougher now than it was in 2003

Whereas the climate for buoyant dorm music like this and "I Gotta Feeling" is thriving.

j0rdan, you are making some gr8 and articulate and convincing arguments, but i there's often something ineffable about a hit record that cant be explained away via histories and trends... and all signs are pointing to that

I mean, this isn't going to stop peaking unless polio keeps the class of '14 from attending college.

i would like to say that "i hope i'm wrong" and this is a huge hit that everyone can enjoy in the face of your travis mccoy's, but really i'd rather be right than let other people have that enjoyment

yo, i'm in college, and we have no impact on what is a chart hit, let me tell you

i can't even tell if you're trolling or not -- how does this have any relation to "i gotta feeling"

xpost The examples I listed are still valid.. jeez.

i want al ship's opinions on this

this song will peak at #92 on the hot 100

Not trolling. "Fuck You" will be the buoyant, irrepressible song that "I Gotta Feeling" was for last year's freshman year and "Hey Ya" was for whatever year that was and "Bust A Move" was for mine.

Eazy Duz It

boy, you should have known by now

"i gotta feeling" is irrepressible for 11 year olds & 45 year olds -- not for 18 year olds

Maybe my time in Big 10 bars skews my research, but still.

yeah basically every bar in bucktown along damen, or in wrigleyville along clark, was blasting 'i gotta feeling' for like 6 months last year

if y'all are really comparing this song to "i gotta feeling"...

IF THIS SONG DOESN'T REACH #7 EXACTLY AND NO HIGHER I'LL EAT MY HAT

lmfao! god i can't wait to look back at this and laugh at whoever ends up being so so SOOO ridiculously wrong.

imo if u dont man up & post some chart predictions, u dont get to clown anyone itt when yr not wrong

but what if u do n e way

http://www.bass-schuler.com/artistimages/NH-karaokePartyWeb.jpg

No karaoke night in 2012, Xtian camp excepted, will go without a good round of "Fuck You."

oy this thread.
anyways:
Side question: what's the over/under for how soon some indie rock shithead is gonna cover this?
― eat, pray, love, fly @ u face (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, August 22, 2010 10:25 PM

10 days
― J0rdan S., Monday, August 23, 2010 3:26 AM

dude, UNDER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kW_Wp8Phso

i have no idea who "tristan clopet" is

I'm gonna say that--barring some label snafu or full-on clear channel ban-- this is going to be the first song to top billboard that has a name you can't say on the radio.

but what if u do n e way

― da croupier, Monday, August 23, 2010 12:16 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

well then FUCK YOU, OOO-OOO-OOO

if i was kanye or somebody i'd ring up 5 of these youtube dipshits and have them cover my new track before I drop it for ULTIMATE VIRAL HYPE

i have no idea who "tristan clopet" is

and The Juice! According to the poster behind the drumkit!

did not know you needed it to be an indie rock shithead that you knew.
Five days at most then, certainly.

this song is okay but not worth having an argument about

Kanye's gotta be pissed, riding around somewhere listening to this.

This song would be perfect if it didn't have the word "XBox" in it

ok yeah random youtube covers inevitably spring up immediately, this isn't like the 'indie rock shitheads' covering "crazy" or ppl doing freestyles over the "a milli" beat

i'll bet john mayer covers this on youtube in a week

can't see this being anywhere near as big a hit as "i gotta feeling". and the smug insistence that "feeling" appeals only to kids and geriatrics is ridiculous. if that were true, it wouldn't have hit anywhere near as big as it did.

by second or third listen, this sounds like a mayer track to me anyways

atari is totes fine though.

ps re: critical adulation i can't wait until people write this up in best-of-yr lists as a thought-provoking look at class tensions etc

would guess that this won't hit top 10 or even top 20 in the US, might flirt with the bottom half of the top 40. we'll all be hearing it for decades regardless.

For folks who don't understand English, it would be a good wedding-reception song.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

man if we could take this wisdom to the track we'd be MILLIONAIRES

ps re: critical adulation i can't wait until people write this up in best-of-yr lists as a thought-provoking look at class tensions etc

― teledyldonix, Monday, August 23, 2010 12:23 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

hawww

CAN YOU SMELL WHAT THE CART IS COOKING

I predict that Cee-Lo will be shut out of the #1 spot by....beetlebauuuum

main youtube for this has 989,055 plays in 4 days

that is not really that ridiculously much i'm sorry to say

for a track w/ no advanced hype i think it kinda is

Easy prediction : Crazy will be a massive mainstream hit

-- snowballing (snowballin...), March 20th, 2006. (later)

no fucking chance whatsoever.

― banana squad (dayvidday), Monday, March 20, 2006 3:42 PM (4 years ago)

ways this song could be better:

- sound more like anco
- have been made in mariopaint
- replace reference to xbox with reference to nintendo64
- add cool ghostlike distortion effects to "ooo ooo ooo" part
- talk more about sunglasses

was this song is good:

- swears
- p easy to sing along to
- mentions atari
- addresses impt real life issues/topics
- length

could be better;

-sound more like ani difranco

SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED COLECOVISION. also the ghostlike distortion effects would have been great i'm sure

i listened to this a bunch more

rilly not feeling it

have we really not moved on at all since 2007

why would we? was a good year

clean version leaked -- 'forget you'

i sorta thought they might

"flip you" ft. judd nelson

clean version works surprisingly well - i especially like "ain't that some shhhh..." gets the idea across without sounding too watered down or chopped up. would love to see this being a massive hit.

I'm gonna say that--barring some label snafu or full-on clear channel ban-- this is going to be the first song to top billboard that has a name you can't say on the radio.

― eat, pray, love, fly @ u face (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, 23 August 2010 06:19 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Did Eamon not chart?

that eamon song is still dope

Also does Fuck You not sound kinda Prince-ish to anyone else? I think its the "I can still get you there" line that made it click.

it doesn't, actually

like, not at all

Youtube comments for the Eamon song are just the most depressing thing I have ever glanced at.

eamon song is way more gross

like cee-lo eventually subverts the voice, having him complain to his mom only to be fobbed off on dad, then collapse in comically childish self-pity. eamon just wallows in "fuck you you ho" crocodile tears. plus the video for chrissakes.

always loved the edited version of the eamon tune when instead of saying fuck you it just goes YOU YOU

eamon joint is much better than i remembered -- too bad he says "ho" but oh well

this guy's voice is pretty terrible tho

drake looks like this dude

no the eamon song is great, it's just the intensity of the misogyny that turns me off. a point of taste...

he sounds so sheepish saying "ho" too

i especially like "ain't that some shhhh..."

this is always how "shit" is cleaned up in songs tho?

i don't know how sick of this song i'll get in the end but for now i like it well enough and it will obviously be a huge, huge hit. maybe, maybe not in a straight-to-number-one sense, but if not then it'll do a "rehab" and just have an extraordinarily long shelf life. i don't see any of its popularity being tied to gnarls barkley (and it's ridiculously better than boring-ass "crazy"), the enthusiasm seems pretty organic - reminds me a bit of when gaga dropped the "bad romance" video.

i like how the thread title still applies to a completely separate discussion six and half years on!

http://tumblinerb.com/post/988418888/whats-your-thoughts-on-the-new-cee-lo-songs

noz otm.

cee lo thinks hes funnier/cleverer than he really thinks he is. or at least, humour, self conscious quirkiness isnt a good fit for him compared to old goodie/organized noize style sincerity.

this song just sounds like it was made for adverts/shitty rom coms.

though saying that, i dont know if id really want to hear him rap much these days either.

idk the thing i seem to be mainly garnering from ppl who r cynical about this song is that at a particular moment shit is gonna be mad annoying. Like, if this reaches the kind of cultural hegemonical monumentality that whiney is predicting then its gonna be real annoying to have to hear it in movies co-starring jason segal or someone. But like so the fuck what? I like it now, my radio has an off button, at some point it will be a musical signpost for 2010 or not and at each moment in time it will have a diff. level of annoyingness. Seems to me that the race is on to find the most irritating context it is likely to end up in and use that psychic prediction as a reason why we should hate it right now?

^^^ otm

this is always how "shit" is cleaned up in songs tho?

yeah, just works particularly well here, some comedy in the "shhhhhh" falling down a hole before the arrival of the next line. not unusual, just happens to suit the song.

xxxp yeah this is a fiery graph:

His voice is so powerful it becomes overbearing when he also pushes the larger aspects of his personality. And in that sense I see his current incarnation as sort of a Jack Black type, as weird of a comparison as that might be. Like Jack Black is to Dio as Cee-Lo is to Al Green. All hard cliches, chest puffing center of attention fat guy music. It’s obvious that they greatly respect their source material but there’s also this lingering hint of irony which totally negates the sincerity and subtly that made the artists they are aping awesome. Of course Jack Black is usually working as a parodist so his approach makes sense. I can’t tell the difference between Lo’s serious songs and his comedic ones. It doesn’t help that he seems like the type of dude who thinks simply donning an afro wig is high comedy in of itself.

Even though I like "Fuck You" as a pop ditty, I kinda worry what happened to Cee-Lo, as on his previous solo albums he actually managed to make smart pop music without being all clever and quirky, and this is pretty much the actual opposite of that. It's makes the lyrics of "I'm Selling Soul" sound more like a premature confession than the sort of semi-cynical analysis they were in 2004.

I mean, just listen to his rap on that song, it sounds like he pretty much predicted his whole future career there.

i honestly hear v little irony in this one at all. i think what makes me cynical about it is the references to being poor/'atari' or whatever, it really removes the facade that he's 'actually feeling this' & pulls you into the realization that hes just performing a pre-fame version of him / 'what his fans are like' / 'universal' feeling instead of truly feeling it 'now'

but i dont see any IRONY in it, more an old time-y idea that the performer doesnt actually have to be 'authentically feeling' the lyrics for us to enjoy the performance in a way that is very much like ... frank sinatra singing standards with lyrics from a woman's perspective, rather than our current era of THIS SONG IS ABOUT HOW USHER FEELS ABOUT HIS DIVORCE

you know you wouldn't mind a commercial with your own tennis shoe in it

It’s obvious that they greatly respect their source material but there’s also this lingering hint of irony which totally negates the sincerity and subtly that made the artists they are aping awesome

i actually dont hear this at all either. theres tons of irony & slyness in classic motown ish.

I didn't mean to say the sentiment itself in "Fuck You" is ironic, but the whole idea of making a pastiche soul tune about such a subject with the phrase "fuck you" in the lyrics, and with some classic 60s "ooo ooo OOOs" backing those words, it just feels like the sort of "aren't I clever" thing that's intended to sell the whole song on its supposed subversive contradictiveness (which, of course, isn't even particularly novel pop move, as Eamon and others have already done it), and that's something the old Cee-Lo would never have done.

(xx-post)

agree. i do hear the exaggerated, somewhat cartoonish aspects, but don't see cee-lo's delivery or persona as aggressively smarmy/ironic in a jack black sense. and if so, not to anywhere near the same degree. not sure it's really such an effectively stinging condemnation, anyway. why should we fault a degree of superficial humor or self-aware distancing in music, or pretend that it necessarily impedes the delivery of an artist's authentic character? wasn't prince building up a cartoon persona and delivering punchlines a lot of the time?

smh @ me but contenderizer otm

hey i know

I mean, it just feels like Lo thought to himself "Eamon + Amy Winehouse = $$$", whereas his previous (solo) attempts of doing 00s soul were way less novelty-ish and more heartfelt. I still like "Fuck You", but I doubt I'll care about this new stuff quite as much as I cared about his first two albums.

And I don't have anything against building personas as such: like you said, Prince used to them to great effect, but that was because he did so within some innovative, groundbreaking pop music. Whereas "Fuck You" is pretty much the opposite to that: the lyrical message actually sounds pretty honest, but the musical form it's juxtaposed with is all about the persona, about this putting this ironic mask on it.

Let's get real though. If we're gonna talk Tenacious D, "Fuck Her Gently" is a pretty heartfelt song despite basically being Weird Al Dio. And imagine "Fuck You" with a Johm Kricfalusi music video!

i don't know why can't "feel" emotions that are funny!

idg why this was taken down btw. i feel like record companies do not understand *hype* when they can't feel like they are *in control* of it.

looks like it's still there to me...

oh, there was a diff. one that had like 120,000 views too that was taken down.

Does anyone know where i can hear "Forget You"?

Yeah the main one's still up, with 1.2m views in four days.

The clean version was on Trevor Nelson's show on BBC Radio 1 on Saturday, dunno if you can play it in the US.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00tghmw/Trevor_Nelson_21_08_2010/

i think what makes me cynical about it is the references to being poor/'atari' or whatever

there's a similar discussion going on at the jukebox w/r/t the "we've got bills to pay" line in taylor swift's new single; i don't get why the subject of money means that artists suddenly need to be autobiographically correct? it's an effective way for a good proportion of the listeners to identify with the song, especially in traditions where the artistic voice is as much representing an audience as being intimate and personal.

totally hear nothing cartoonish or ironic in this song, it's not even that funny. it's more of a shrug. resigned but wry. like "rehab"!

Yeah, I have no problem with the "poor" part, actually I've always found "I have a million bucks" to be one of the most boring subject matters in rap, because how many people can relate to that? Just because someone is/was a rich rapper doesn't mean everything has to be fully autobiographical, does it?

i don't get why the subject of money means that artists suddenly need to be autobiographically correct?

see also a few decades' worth of bruce springsteen critiques. (including springsteen's own line about "a rich man in a poor man's shirt")

Anyway, lol at the clean version! "Forget you"?! Some funny kind of bleep would've been better.

its at 51:00

I think "Eff You" might have been more effective than "Forget You," but whatev

Also, MTV is gonna prolly bleep out Ferrari, Xbox, Atari and n****a

i have no problem with "i have a million bucks" type lyrics either

basically like everything else in pop, bragging about your wealth or creating a poor narrator aren't innately good or bad things, it depends how it's done. pretty well, here, though relistening and it's just a good song, not a great one.

"JUST THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW KNOW"

I think "Eff You" might have been more effective than "Forget You," but whatev

yeah maura wrote something somewhere about wanting to mix it into the-dream's "florida university"

figured the xbox/atari was more of an age/style thing than a $$$ thing. poor people aren't buying ataris these days or anything

haha an admission that he's "retro"?

basically like everything else in pop, bragging about your wealth or creating a poor narrator aren't innately good or bad things, it depends how it's done.

I dunno, I think "I'm rich now" type of lyrics are innately worse if you want the majority your audience to relate to what you're saying. Can't think of any song of that kind which would make me go, "Oh yeah, I really feel for this rich dude!". Maybe a handful of rappers can do those kind of lyrics well enough to make them feel like appealing fantasies, but most of the time it's just "can't trust my friends anymore and all the women are gold diggers now". The only time it works, IMO, when the lyrics are about dreaming/aiming to become rich, not when it's about already having the million bucks.

not sure how much i want to wade into this, but imo it is a catchy song, and it is well produced and written and performed to an extent, i just feel like it could have been a classic but opting for "fuck you" as the main vocal hook just smacks of laziness and being like "i know how we can get ppl to talk abt this" as opposed to actually crafting something--like, old motown songs were actually clever and this is kinda just easy lols.

the rich/poor stuff is fine but it's pure throwaway material

Can't think of any song of that kind which would make me go, "Oh yeah, I really feel for this rich dude!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsT8FaZnzdE

you guys are totally not getting my point about the money stuff -- its got nothing to do w/ disguised marxism or whatever, its about it not feeling like a song 'by Cee Lo' but a song performed by cee lo. its an authenticity thing -- theres not anything WRONG with it, but its more of a throwback to an era when R&B singers were obviously not living their lyrics -- now as a general rule part of what ppl enjoy w/ lots of R&B is the idea that, even when /especially when written about someone else, they are about the perfomer's persona as much as they are about identifying w/ the feelings yourself

so you're saying if she dumped him cuz he was fat, it would have more resonance.

"if i was thinner/i'd still be a winner"

i think that ppl feel this not like how they dig saadiq's 'retro' but in a narrative sense -- its a firmly-felt retro, like ppl dont even realize it IS retro, it just feels like a comfort-food type of narrative trope, where cee-lo is speaking 'universally' from the listeners perspective, instead of rapping/singing about his own life

so you're saying if she dumped him cuz he was fat, it would have more resonance.

― a tenth level which features a single castle (tipsy mothra), Monday, August 23, 2010 8:46 AM (38 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

it would have LESS -- im just observing how this is appealing to ppl

right, i know. just trying to imagine why cee-lo would actually get dumped.

yeah, deej is onto something. every r&b singer sings like a fuckin blogger now

Cee-Lo's been married for like 15 years or something, fwiw

Also, MTV is gonna prolly bleep out Ferrari, Xbox, Atari and n****a

and yet they don't bleep out the big PINKs on the asses of various jersey shore ladies. ah, standards and practices departments

Cee-Lo's been married for like 15 years or something, fwiw

― eat, pray, love, fly @ u face (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, August 23, 2010 8:49 AM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

also: not crazy iirc. although the episode of his daughter's 'super sweet 16' did make me wonder ....

i want al ship's opinions on this

― J0rdan S., Monday, August 23, 2010 12:53 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haven't caught up with everything that went down here last night yet, but if you want my 2 cents -- i think you're overstating the need for something to fit into a current trend to be a hit, ESPECIALLY if like this it's headed straight for pop radio and doesn't need to fit into a genre format like R&B/rock/etc. that said it all comes down to how the radio edit works and "Forget You" seems like a terrible idea, might really hurt the song and make it stall in the lower reaches of the Hot 100 whereas the right clean version could easily take it top 5 or whatever.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ loses massive punch with "forget you." but might succeed massively, anyway, since everyone will know what the real title is.

always loved the edited version of the eamon tune when instead of saying fuck you it just goes YOU YOU

― markers, Monday, August 23, 2010 2:46 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

drake looks like this dude

― J0rdan S., Monday, August 23, 2010 2:53 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the line is "fuck you you ho" so they don't replace the f-word they just silence it, like "____ you you ho"

also lol i almost forgot how hard i was selling the "drake looks like eamon" thing last year: http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=804

but yeah the song might still have cachet with people going "you know what he's REALLY saying there, right?"...like MTV and a lot of stations totally blanked out the word "suicidal" in Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls," which is like half the hook of the song, and it was still huge.

Shit yeah "Louie Louie" syndrome

I mean, also remember that time in the mid-00s where songs like Petey Pablo's "Freek-A-Leek" and David Banner's "Like A Pimp" were huge radio hits and were basically more bleep than lyric.

I can't believe we let Pitchfork decide all our decisions for us when they'll put Neon Indian on a list of the 500 best songs of the decade and totally shaft Eamon's "Fuck it"

I mean, also remember that time in the mid-00s where songs like Petey Pablo's "Freek-A-Leek" and David Banner's "Like A Pimp" were huge radio hits and were basically more bleep than lyric.

― eat, pray, love, fly @ u face (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, August 23, 2010 10:28 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

not in the choruses!

yes there's no mystery here.

Banner's "Like A Pimp" and "Play" both had their choruses changed/cleaned up for radio

But has there ever been a #1 song who's chorus was cleaned for radio play, I ask?

I guess "Crack A Bottle"

Oh, and come on Souljah Boy

"Superman that OHHHHHHHH"

Cee-Lo will be fine!

i am now bored with this song.

(kinda serious about this!)

i think this song will get big cuz a facebook friend who doesn't even listen to stuff like Gorillaz/Cee Lo had it on her profile two days before i THREW it up...it's catching fast

err not GORILLAZ, Gnarls Barkley, geez

Banner's "Like A Pimp" and "Play" both had their choruses changed/cleaned up for radio

― eat, pray, love, fly @ u face (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, August 23, 2010 10:34 AM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"Play" had a huge overhaul for the clean edit yes but you didn't mention it before and it wasn't that big a hit. "Like A Pimp"'s chorus is the same in the clean and dirty versions.

i mean there are tons of big hit songs with swear words edited out for the radio, even in the chorus, yes of course duh, but usually they can be dropped or replaced without sacrificing any appeal way more easily than w/ a song titled "Fuck You" where the thing everyone likes about it is how it goes "fuck you" over and over and over.

dunno how big a hit was on (though i heard it on the radio a lot) but Ikonz "Get f***ed up" was "Get Crunked Up" on the radio.

Sexual Eruption="Sensual Seduction"...but again I don't know how big hits (even if they were hits) those were.

anyway "forget you" is the kind of thing i feel like 12 year old girls are most likely to say, which is pretty much the song's target audience anyway, so that might not hold it back that much.

they could also go the Fat Joe route and invent a word that sounds similar

Sruck You

i haven't heard the clean version but "forget you" seems perfect and more creative than "____ you", cuz the "fuck you" of the original isn't, like, particularly angry or upset, it's that kind of shrugging "ah screw you" whatever-ness, and "forget you" conveys that too.

are they making any more Shrek movies? because this song seems destined for a big "Shrek You" end credits singalong.

what word did Fat Joe invent?

are they making any more Shrek movies? because this song seems destined for a big "Shrek You" end credits singalong.

― richie goingham (some dude), Monday, August 23, 2010 11:07 AM (41 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

omg

well I don't know if he actually made it up himself but he used to use "triz" in his songs a lot, and he was talking in some interview about how it didn't really mean anything, but that radio execs told him that they had to censor that word when they played his song on the radio, and he thought it was funnyu cuz even he didn't know what it meant.

i think it was just a snoop/e-40 style shizzle way of saying "running trains" iirc

Sagat (born Faustin Lenon) is an American rapper from Baltimore, Maryland. He had a minor hit in 1994, "Why Is It? (Funk Dat)". The song was originally titled "Fuk Dat" but was changed to gain radio airplay. It was run frequently on MTV and its video was featured on Beavis & Butthead. In 1994 he produced a follow up single, "Luvstuff".

Hahaha, "Shrek You."

i liked when MTV used to play the "skeetskeetskeetskeetskeetskeetskeetskeet" part of "Get Low" b4 white ppl knew what it meant

ironically i think Lil Flip got away with talking about running trains on "Like A Pimp" because he followed it up by saying CHOO CHOOOO so it didn't seem like a euphemism

OMG "Funk Dat," case funkin closed on this argument

on what argument? the one nobody's making that songs with a thinly veiled clean version of the F-word can't be minor hits?

The rarely heard "Play That Fucking Music (White Boy)" goes for high prices on eBay.

Fucky Cold Medina is pretty rare too

for years i assumed martina was singing "when we fuck we'll hear beats" on tricky's "overcome" but "when we funk we'll hear beats" is actually printed in the inlay

What does "running trains" mean?

lil flip used to be an amtrak conductor

Also close to 500 new answers? After like a day? This going to be huge.

250 of those are deej and jordan

the deej-Whiney beef has become a 3-way

I would never beef with j0rdan

it's more a 3-way with one abstention

not that I know anything about that

I am feeling very cynical about a 3-way abstention.

lol @ ringtone dudes arguing at length about something being a barometer of future popularity. you realize we do this about, like, random blog rappers every other week?

Side question:

What was the first Billboard #1 to have the fuck word in the lyrics?

2Pac - "How Do U Want It?" 1996?

no idea, but i'm guessing Chic's "Freak Out" was the first #1 with lyrics that were changed from the f-word to something clean

question....

why is it.....

that any time we all find a song we think is catchy and fun....

we all ruin it by having nerdy metadebates on how big the song will get

just enjoy the mu'fuggin song!

FUNK DAT!

um yeah, this is totally going massive.

What does "running trains" mean?

being a fascist

http://jar.sagepub.com/content/23/1/97.short

i can't get over the babytalk shit

we all ruin it by having nerdy metadebates on how big the song will get

― the master of unlocking (San Te), Monday, August 23, 2010 2:21 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I am feeling very clinical about Cee-Lo's new song

how popular did the whisper song get?

"Florida University" > "Fuck You"

it's a helluva clean version

so white people like this because a black guy curses on it, right?

I think the appeal is not that it's a black dude cursing, but a dude cursing on what is essentially a 60s Motown track.

^^^^this

the appeal for me, such as it is, is entirely musical; it's a pretty catchy song and cee lo has a great voice and a helluva ear for idiotic sonic earworms (he did produce dontcha for the pussycat dolls after all)
not feeling compelled to return to Fuck You in any way though; I think I might sit this one out and wait for the album

^^^ Yes, that too. I think it's a solid tune, for those reasons you mention.

a massive hit that had fuck in the chorus:

if you don't give a damn, gon throw it up

that one works really well tho & it actually works better than "if you don't give a damn, we don't give a fuck" which doesn't make much sense

but i think there are some songs that benefit from just being blanked out -- imagine if "the whisper song" was all

WAIT TILL YOU SEE MY WHIP or something

eatspaghettiupeatspaghettiup

hahaha

that could be mixed into the opening lines of "lose yourself" quite nicely

god, even tho i hate that "I'm in Miami Bitch" song, when they did a "bay" version that played on the radio, they changed it to, "i'm in the bay, trick" and i was like, really? you just made this shit even worse.

that song will always remind me of this time i went to a party and it was like like

Some guy: "Yeah, I was in Miami..."
Me: "...Bitch?"
Some guy: "What?!" O_O

Like I said on the other thread, there's another track called "Georgia" that's been released from the album, and it isn't very promising. On "Fuck You" Cee-Lo doesn't stretch out too much, but on "Georgia" you can clearly hear the limits of his singing, and it makes me think a full-on retro soul album isn't the best choice for him.

What has been the biggest 00s disconnect between crit/blog accolades and actual chart success from an ACTUAL MAJOR LABEL POP MACHINE ARTIST. (which means actual pop not "fake alt" snake oil like "santigold")

"International Players Anthem": #8 Pazz and Jop, #70 Hot 100.

"Kick, Push": #9 Pazz and Jop, #78 Hot 100.

i'm sure there are better examples, both those (expecially IPA) got played on rap radio quite a bit, one of them was the lead single from a #1 album. how did the Hell Hath No Fury singles do on Pazz & Jop?

The album finished 7th, but "Mr. Me Too" was the highest single at #27.

there will be a bit disconnect this year b/w the placement of the dream's album and it's impact on the charts (which is basically nothing)

so white people like this because a black guy curses on it, right?

― Gucci Mane hermeneuticist (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 23 August 2010 20:01 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

It's so rare to hear a recording of a black man swearing isn't it?

#4 on the Billboard 200 isn't exactly nothing even if it's not a blockbuster

If it hadn't peaked at #2, I think "Who Are You?" by The Who would be the first chart-topper to have the f-word in it.

If Paul McCartney hadn't changed the lyrics, though, "With A Little Fuck" would have been the first #1.

Recently, the hip-hop group Black-Eyed Peas' hit song "Don't Phunk With My Heart" was censored on many radio stations to "Don't Mess With My Heart", establishing a new trend toward eliminating all euphemisms for "fuck" as well as the word itself.

MAAAAAN, FUNK DAT

And then there's Britney.

EFF YOU SEE FUCK ME FUCK

If you encase me.

i wonder if someone wrote a song wit hthe word "felch" in the title if american DJs would know to censor it

i can't get over the babytalk shit

this section gets worse and worse with subsequent listens

"Florida University" > "Fuck You"

Weird. I skip "Florida University" every time it comes up in shuffle, whereas "Fuck You" is totally my jam.

that is weird

also there's no such thing as Florida University, and "Fuck You" is a real thing ppl say to each other

the closest thing to Florida University is FIU (Florida International University). wonder if Terius is really a Golden Panthers fan.

Max, what do you mean when you say ppl are trying hard to "make it happen"? I haven't seen a lot of the blogs blowing up about this song, but I assumed it was just a lot of folks sharing a tune they find catchy or clever -- are there actual campaigns involved to make the song a hit?

xp Ask Alfred.

haha it was just a sort of snide mean girls reference, i dont think there are any real campaigns

wow drudgesiren.gif

I think "Eff You" might have been more effective than "Forget You," but whatev

"forget you" lets you almost say "fuck" when you're singing along - "fuh-GET you" - G is just a voiced CK - letting you have your cake and it it too. the lyrics are trying for the same thing: to both take the high ground AND pen epic foul-mouthed kiss-offs in your head. i mean, it is pretty adorable. the whole thing is the kind of interior monologue that we all have but hardly ever actually say.

there could be a good conversation centering around whether or not this song will go to number one but i'm not sure we've had it..

still there's so much to otm that it would be foolish to even attempt to document it. this stood out though re "retro" -

its a firmly-felt retro, like ppl dont even realize it IS retro

i agree with this. tons of things never even occur to me that they're retro until someone mentions it. and aren't we at a point where the signature sounds and flourishes of almost any era, in almost any genre, are just more tools in the toolbox? (hasn't it always been this way? i've always been skeptical that ours is a particularly extreme culture of retro-fetishization in comparison with any other random era you care to pick)

anyway, great song. everybody relax, it's august

("wake me up before you go go" and "true blue" were both songs that just seemed like yeah, that's what a pop song sounds like. no idea that they were throwbacks. but i might be more obtuse than most about this stuff. when "stand by me" was re-released for the movie i thought it was a new song!)

xpost, exactly like the chorus of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsmDtNqZrFo

1992, crumbsnatchers

also there's no such thing as Florida University, and "Fuck You" is a real thing ppl say to each other

― he's an xbox and i'm like electronic football (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, August 23, 2010 3:56 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

Who cares. Florida University exists in The-Dream's world, and that's good enough for me.

maybe it was incepted

the entire album that is.

Flo Rida University:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCJm7tXo3IQ

i agree with this. tons of things never even occur to me that they're retro until someone mentions it. and aren't we at a point where the signature sounds and flourishes of almost any era, in almost any genre, are just more tools in the toolbox?

this makes sense, but there's no way i can mentally modernize this song, remove its immediate associations with what i think of as the soundtrack of the/a past. nothing wrong with looking back or working within established formal parameters though.

this makes sense, but there's no way i can mentally modernize this song, remove its immediate associations with what i think of as the soundtrack of the/a past. nothing wrong with looking back or working within established formal parameters though.

― a dystopian society awaits if we continue on this path. (contenderizer), Monday, August 23, 2010 7:39 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

oh good we disagree again -- everything as it should be

my argument, & the one tracer is agreeing with, is that lots of ppl totally are removing its 'immediate associations ... as the soundtrack of the past.' It wasnt something that occurred to me any more as an attempt to sound retro at ALL, simply bcuz that 'kind' of retro has been done 8 million times.

tom ewing on pitchfork: "R is for Retro: Almost all music which seems pointlessly revivalist at the time ends up having more to do with its present than the past it harks back to-- electroclash, for instance, is hugely evocative of the 00s and tells us nothing at all about the 80s. Which isn't to say that revivalism is always healthy-- even the most glorious and imaginative of moments can feel like something to resent if they're being used as a stick to beat the present with. (see K for Kids). "

& imo this is not RETRO MUSIC U SHOULD RESPECT its totally trashy guilty fun abt hating yr ex

the closest thing to Florida University is FIU (Florida International University). wonder if Terius is really a Golden Panthers fan.

Plz do not give Isiah Thomas any ideas thx

yeah, i agree with deej, honestly. This should only feel "retro" if you've never heard a Cee-Lo song before

& imo this is not RETRO MUSIC U SHOULD RESPECT its totally trashy guilty fun abt hating yr ex

yeah, but no. i can see why retro might not be such a big deal, as everything harkens back to something, and every listener approaches every song on his/her own terms. and i agree that retro doesn't mean "actually of the past", but rather "evoking some sense of what the past is or seems to mean in the present." e.g., grease says at least as much about the late 70s as it does the 50s. but grease and its soundtrack were nonetheless heavily retro styled in their moment. and it seems to me that "fuck you" operates in a similar manner. it not accidentally or incidentally, but deliberately and explicitly invokes the stylistic hallmarks of soul gone by. one doesn't have to notice this or attach much significance to it, but it's nonetheless what's going on. the song derives a significant portion of its appeal and identity from the discontinuity between the past (melody, arrangement, 1/2 of the production, vocal approach) and the present (language, theme, the other 1/2 of the production). at least for me. ymmv.

I am feeling very cynical about John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John singing this.

This should only feel "retro" if you've never heard a Cee-Lo song before

i guess i'd say that retro-soul is a basic component of cee-lo's style, and has been for quite some time. that he's firmly established in this niche doesn't make songs like this any less distinctly retro, at least not to my ears.

yeah, deej is onto something. every r&b singer sings like a fuckin blogger now

― eat, pray, love, fly @ u face (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, August 23, 2010 9:48 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i keep coming back to this post trying to understand it and it keeps making my head hurt

lol

"Trey Songz, I notice you have a very blogger-influenced vocal style on your new single"

"Well, I've really been reading a lot of Fluxblog, the very first mp3 blog, and the writer's child-like enthusiasm has really influenced my singing"

don't play dumb, shilpo

shilpo, the treat pups love

don't let the "deej is onto something" part throw you off

"Well, I've really been reading a lot of Fluxblog, the very first mp3 blog, and the writer's child-like enthusiasm has really influenced my singing"

― J0rdan S., Monday, August 23, 2010 9:35 PM (2 minutes ago)

omg lolz

don't play dumb, shilpo

― forget university (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, August 23, 2010 9:36 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i'm not, honest!

Next thing you know R&B singers be singing like Glenn Greenwald.

deej is sayin in the post TMZ era, rihanna sings about boys in "Love The Way You Lie," automatically means it's about chris brown to everyone's ears and not about general dude scumminess. ppl excpect out r&b stars to be emily g0uldian oversharers about their own lives instead of people to filter our own universal emotions thru--ie, ppl now complaining WHAT CEELO IS NOT REALLY BROKE WTF

"happy birthday, mr. president..." xp

deej is sayin in the post TMZ era, rihanna sings about boys in "Love The Way You Lie," automatically means it's about chris brown to everyone's ears and not about general dude scumminess. ppl excpect out r&b stars to be emily g0uldian oversharers about their own lives instead of people to filter our own universal emotions thru--ie, ppl now complaining WHAT CEELO IS NOT REALLY BROKE WTF

― forget university (Whiney G. Weingarten), Monday, August 23, 2010 8:42 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i mean, this is so a part of rap music that its almost never spoken of ... aside from a strain of crit friendly rap, almost all rappers are TMZ-ing their irl shit (supposedly)

xpost are you saying Cee-Lo dresses up like Marilyn Monroe

kinda curious if contenderizer considers 'hey ya' retro. since it had the 'trappings' & what not

i mean the diff between this & "grease" is that grease is like literally supposed to be about the 50s

Cee-Lo could sing like Perez Hilton = perfect fit.

i don't really get that, though, it's not really true of most R&B singers. unless they're super famous or everyone knows who they're in a relationship like Rihanna or Beyonce, nobody takes every R&B song as literal and autobiographical, even the really MY LIFE IS MY MUSIC types like Mary J. Blige.

and that's true of any genre. people wonder who Courtney Love is singing about because she has famous exes, but they don't wonder that about every rock singer.

xpost I certainly don't, I mean even when I was 9 years old hearing my first love songs I recognized that the artist may not be speaking about something concrete that happened in their lives.

Rap is a different story because of how it shoves lyricism to the forefront, but even there you have your third party narratives and "characterization".

oh no -- not another argument about formalism.

dudes im not saying that thats how all songs w/in the genre are or something

just that its a much more common thing today to assume some sort of 'authorship' by the performer -- post beatles / dylan fallout or whatever, compared to when frank sinatra would sing jazz standards written from the point of view of women w/out even changing the pronouns, its a whole diff ball game

i think if pop artists are singing about something that isn't biographical than it is their responsibility to make it so ASAP. even if it includes homicides.

i mean, cam'ron's "i hate my job" was kind of a weird/atypical track for the same reason this cee-lo one is ... the lyrics are obviously (very obviously) contradicting the experience of who the performer is

no one is saying it SHOULD be

kinda curious if contenderizer considers 'hey ya' retro. since it had the 'trappings' & what not

i mean the diff between this & "grease" is that grease is like literally supposed to be about the 50s

i do consider "hey ya" a retro pop track, though one with slightly different reference points.

grease is also different in that the music (or, well, some of the music, anyway) owed a lot to then forward-looking disco & pop. more than "fuck you" owes on a musical level to contemporary pop/r&b, i mean. like the contrast between the 50s subject matter & lyrics and the disco strings & beats in some of those grease tunes is pretty bizarre.

but "authorship" denotes more than songwriting, right? Sinatra owned those songs he sang.

or am I reading you wrong?

regarding Grease, we should also remember that Grease the stage musical and Grease the movie are two very different beasts. No "Hopelessly Devoted to You", no "You're the One that I Want" (replaced by the more rock 'n rolly "All Shook Up"), no "Grease is the Word", et al.

the original cast recording of Grease featuring Barry Bostwick was very raw and very rock 'n rolly sounding -- it still felt like (as it truly was) an homage to that era, but there were zero disco-isms on it at all. the movie threw all that shiz in.

R&B and rap have a somewhat unique relationship to the idea of narrative authenticity in pop. audiences for other pop forms seem less inclined to assume/demand that a personal truth is being directly communicated. not sure why this is.

oh no -- not another argument about formalism.

board description ahoy.

regarding Grease, we should also remember that Grease the stage musical and Grease the movie are two very different beasts.

fair enough. i'm talking about the film and the pop hits it spawned.

Reminds me of an argument with a student this summer over Lil Wayne -- after praising his flow, he was nevertheless convinced he employed a ghost writer. When I said, "OK, well, so what if he did?" he was totally flabbergasted.

if rap was just as easy as writing the lyrics, ghostwriters wouldn't even exist as they'd be in business for themselves.....

i mean why isn't the same bias shown to comedians, who generally have material written for them

"hey, those actors aren't writing their own lines!!!!"

well, that's not exactly the same, is it? i mean, actors make crystal clear that they're playing roles. many music acts -- including a lot of rappers -- go out of their way to suggest that their work, incl. their lyrics, is an outgrowth of their personal experiences. also, it isn't an insult (or, at least it isn't necessarily an insult) to gifted interpreters of someone else's work to note that it adds another dimension to be both a gifted performer and a gifted composer. put differently, a little credit where credit's due.

obviously those who can do it all themselves should be lauded, but in my social circles there tends to be a smug condescension to people who don't do everything themselves.

And no, it's not exactly the same thing, but I was more trying to point out that merely having the material isn't enough to be successful, it's what you do with it.

The act of standing before a mic is a performance.

yeah, it's definitely what you do with the material.

i have no idea if cee-lo green writes his own songs, but his singing and his performance is charming and engaging.

yea he has incredible presence and charisma. ...is the Soul Machine was a really solid solo album, and god knows I loved his verses with the Goodie Mob.

wait are ppl really denying the point already made in this thread that this is essentially a motown song with fuck you for the chorus?

i'm so confused

nah that's actually a pretty accurate descript for my ears, with an added "backing vocalists singing funny things".

but it's a GOOD motown-y sound

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

tons of energy, memorable melody, charm-to-burn . . .

wait are ppl really denying the point already made in this thread that this is essentially a motown song with fuck you for the chorus?

i don't think so, but as it turns out, people have differing/interesting ideas about what "retro" means.

...is the Soul Machine was a really solid solo album, and god knows I loved his verses with the Goodie Mob

i've never heard goodie mob!

must investigate, i guess.

i mean i think you can say that this is going for a "retro" sound without that being a commentary on anything.

hey y'all just poppin' in to say

we must take away this generation's carrot and make it feel the stick. true pleasure is in submission. and to submit to this song is a step in the right direction.

― rage for the machine (banaka), Monday, 23 August 2010 02:08 (Yesterday)

also: "Shrek You"

all in all, good thread

http://www.billboard.com/news/billboard-bits-cee-lo-s-f-you-is-viral-hit-1004110817.story?tag=hpfeed#/news/billboard-bits-cee-lo-s-f-you-is-viral-hit-1004110817.story?tag=hpfeed

The song, which was co-written and produced by Bruno Mars
The song, which was co-written and produced by Bruno Mars
The song, which was co-written and produced by Bruno Mars
The song, which was co-written and produced by Bruno Mars
The song, which was co-written and produced by Bruno Mars

IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW

if only blender was around to do a profile on him u_u

fuckin bait and switch

hahaha, i was just joking guys this song is crap, gotcha losers!

is this like when ethan found out that bama rap was brought to the forefront by diplo

how rude!

― usic, Saturday, May 24, 2008 2:35 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark

^^lurqiua otm

still lol that luriqua, the irwin fuckin chusid of rap, was the dude who first brought gucci mane to the ilx table

Peter Hernandez Jr. (born October 8, 1986[citation needed]), better known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an American singer-songwriter and music producer.[2] He is well known for lending his vocals and co-writing the hooks for the songs "Nothin' on You"[3] by B.o.B, and "Billionaire"[4] by Travie McCoy. He also co-wrote the international hits "Right Round" by Flo Rida and "Wavin' Flag" by K'naan.

Born October '86, boys. Get off the internet and get to work!

lol this bruno mars news just made my day

"is set to be released as a single Oct. 4"

JESUS CHRIST. REALLY????

i mean i know major labels are stupid but COME ON