Electrik Red - How To Be A Lady: Vol. 1 - P is for Poll

honestly any given track there could be my legit answer except for two.

added 'electrik city' b/c it's so incredible and should've been on the album, and anyone unaware of it needs it in their lives like now.

also i just need to say that the chord change on 'bed rest' is SLAYING me today - sexiest chord change everrrr

Oh, don't. There's no way I can choose.

Comes down to So Good vs. WFY vs. Freaky Freaky vs. oh god the whole thing is so good.

You have a copy with "Electrik City" on it? It was released 3 years ago on a different label.

oh that was an xp

'electrik city' was actually released? thought it was just a leaked demo! it's astonishing regardless, that swelling bass and those whispers and those lyrics...

"freaky freaky" cuz it splits the difference between club track & bedroom track, also cuz it sounds like 90s timbaland imo

fav club track: "we fuck you"
fav bedroom track: "go shawty" (generally underrated amongst e-red stans imo)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMJpKe2Uo-w

Video and everything. They apparently had a Darkchild-produced false start a few years back.

Anyway, this needs more thought.

if i could vote for best moment i might pick in "friend lover" when she sings "but i gotta be at work by niiiiIIIINE"

we should poll best bridge on the album also

the way the synths burst out on the 'freaky freaky' chorus turns an already-huge production into something impossibly massive and generous

binkie's rap on 'muah' might well be my favourite single verse on the album - "i'm not a ditz, i got a brain / you saw my tittays before you see my face / it's all good, nigga don't be shamed / cuz i would feel the same". also 'muah' as in MOI.

i considered polling best lyric, or just best moment, on the album - every song has like 5

rule 1: no pop-pop-popping up unannounced

we would have to do a ballot poll for best moment

and not even i think we are big enough nerds for that

it would literally involve transcribing every lyric of the album, and 90% of the sounds and chord changes

'electrik city' video is terrific

yes

Bed Rest probably still my pick, feels like one of the more novel tracks and i dunno maybe i prefer the relative subtlety

Yeah too hard to choose. My "i'm gonna claim this is underrated even though it probably isn't" track is "9 to 5".

After many, many listens, the excitement has definitely worn off. I'd be perfectly content with an EP containing "Freaky Freaky," "Friend Lover," and "P Is For Power." But it certainly made a deeper impression than The-Dream's second album which still hasn't sunk in.

"Freaky Freaky" is most impressive for how it makes hay of distinctions between fast and slow. But I return to the fast fast "Friend Lover" most often so that. I just love the beat takes a quick gulp before every other measure. Also how it sounds like this machine that threatens to outrace the gals. Also how it sounds like Prince in hyper, nerve-wracked mode.

I just love HOW....

this could be anything up to "on point," not including "WFY." way too hard

"P Is For Power" is probably my least favourite track actually, or in the bottom rung at any rate.

i really like 'p is for power' but 'on point' is the better version of it really

think i might vote for 'drink in my cup'...

P Is For Power has that awesome playground chant feel to it though, On Point is a lot more in your face - they're not especially similar.

I've also found myself wondering if On Point is meant to sound a bit like Lapdance but dismissed this as coincidence.

After many, many listens, the excitement has definitely worn off.

^^^^ this. I picked "So Good."

#electrikredquotemachine on twitter

so good

Listening to this album again after a few weeks, I still adore it, but I've totally switched which songs I love. It might be Bed Rest now.

Or I might just close my eyes and click randomly.

Still love the chorus on WFY but the rest of the song isn't quite as amazing. Maybe. OH I CAN'T DECIDE.

after a couple of weeks off, my electrik red love has gone into serious overdrive this week. i assumed '9 to 5' was the only song not in contention for me here...and then yesterday it just CLICKED.

so good immediately leaped out as the best one to me and that hasn't changed!

bed rest, friend lover, 9 to 5 all amazing but yeah, so good has something extra

So hard to pick between Friend Lover, Freaky Freaky and Drink In My Cup... Or Muah or 9 To 5 maybe...

i don't know that this album really warrants a poll, it's too fluid!

"bed rest" v. "p is for power" for me

those are the 2 that i come back to as well, and freaky freaky.

oh and drink in my cup. ultimate late night jam.

Freaky Freaky vs. Friend Lover, I guess?

Though my favorite moment on the whole thing is prolly the "hello/yellow" rhyme on Drink in My Cup.

Is this worth a try if I wasn't into either Dream album?

"P Is For Power" is probably my least favourite track actually, or in the bottom rung at any rate.

― Tim F, Monday, August 10, 2009 6:20 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

i kind of agree with this, except that i just love when the song switches up to that airy, weightless bridge AND THEN moves into "let me see your dollar signs!!" - soo many ideas in that song

i find the simplicity of p is for power hard to argue with. great, clean vocals. and yeah, lemme see them dollar signs is hella catchy.

also: "the Y is for YESSSS! ooh! vanillah!"

i think we all agree that "in the bottom rung" of this album is all relative

also lol at them managing to make VANILLA, of all words, sound dirty

Is this worth a try if I wasn't into either Dream album?

― David Katz (davek_00), Tuesday, August 11, 2009 6:31 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yea, definitely

P Is For Power

there are sub-par songs on this but all of them have a brilliant turn in them somewhere, that's worth something

there are sub-par songs on this but all of them have a brilliant turn in them somewhere, that's worth something

― Arms and the SBan (goole), Tuesday, August 11, 2009 12:40 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i don't agree with the first part of this but the second part is why this album is so amazing

Love this whole album but I do prefer the subtler songs to the shouty ones. Voting for Bed Rest, no doubt.

Yeah I agree that "P Is For Power" has some amazing moments - and yeah that's pretty typical of the album itself, there's so many easter eggs hidden away in there.

There's not a moment on this album I don't like, basically.

I've realized I like this album more in theory than in practice. I like parts of it but there isn't a single song I like everything about... I guess, the closest thing would be "Muah" (which guess mu vote). I just wish they'd come up with a different chorus.

Although at different points since then "9 To 5" and "Bed Rest" have been in contention, "Freaky Freaky" was the one that made my jaw drop on first listen and remains my favorite.

was just listening to this today. went for "devotion" just cause the tenderness can't be denied. esp because it's raised in relief to the intimidating vibe of most else. i'll f u thank you very much.

toss up b/w freaky freaky, bed rest, and devotion (bass is just ridiculous)

i'll f u thank you very much.

― Jacques_Lamure, Tuesday, August 11, 2009 10:27 PM (51 minutes ago)

hahaha! devotion is my favorite perhaps too, i'm such a sucker for those lush tricky productions

also i like that your name is an OM song

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

man "Muah" is so killer

yeah, that was the song i liked the most on the first listen. i love the little staccato "ay"s in the chorus

i think "muah" is mad average except for the rap

bet ya never had nobody like thiiissss. had lips that kiss like thiiiisss (like MUAH)

i'd even venture to say the rap is the least best part of the song, though i like it plenty. even after listening to it like 25 times, it's still jarring when the rap drops in the second verse, seems like there should be another sung verse.

damn i really still can't choose, i'm leaning toward "muah" or "devotion" cuz i feel like they won't get the love they deserve

My favourite bit of "Muah" is the spoken word bit at the end when the backing music suddenly gets all eerie. "I mean, I do what I do, so I gotta know that you on point.... Alright?... Okay...."

I just like the chorus, which is sexier than Vanity 6.

what i should have said above more specifically is that "Muah" is a killer intro, really good way to set up the whole album

yeah, it covers almost all of their bases.

that makes more sense i think. every other song is pretty much better.

oh, i disagree with that, it's absolutely in the top 50% at least for me

but then i'm in the faction of people who think the shouty more hip hop stuff is kind of a drag

I think my order of liking is (albeit by almost infinitessimal degrees):

Friend Lover/Bed Rest/So Good/W.F.U./Freaky Freaky
Muah/Devotion/9 To 5
Drink In My Cup/Go Shawty
On Point/Kill Bill/P Is For Power

I should probably listen to this again and then vote, huh.

'muah' operates really well as their manifesto and is absolutely one of my top favourites. at any given point i have "shawty i'm the shit, with this shit" stuck in my head.

voted "9 to 5" just on basis of being recent fave

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Apart from "So Good" being too low this is a pretty accurate result.

Had to go with "Bed Rest," even though in some ways the performance is unremarkable. But that's what makes it interesting, I think, it doesn't really peak like the other songs, plus production is haunting and oddly paranoid, and adds a new facet to the personality of the album that's unlike anything else on it. Beats the more hyper insanity tracks, "Friend Lover" (which I still love) and "Kill Bill" (which I don't).

forgot to vote, I was very definite on so good and I didn't have any intention of changing my mind tho.

Eh, "Friend Lover" isn't really insane, just hyper, I guess. But yeah, "Kill Bill," I dunno.

i like that 'kill bill' is the token shitty pop track yet is STILL GREAT.

surprised 'on point' got no votes - if we'd done this a month ago i'd have been very close to ticking it. i don't actually know what i voted for in the end, maybe 'drink in my cup'

aw pretty much as soon as i voted (muah) i wished i had voted kill bill

"Kill Bill" is great, the lyrics and general psychoness of it prevents it from seeming like a "Womaniser"/"Keeps Getting Better"/"If You Seek Amy"/etc. retread.

hmm, kill bill doesn't remind me of any of those songs.

i must admit, i'm really pissed i didn't vote for Drink in my cup.

"kill bill" is garbage. i love "on point" but not nearly enough to vote for it

i'll say that besides WFY, the songs that got 0 votes are my least faves

"bed rest" would've been a worthy winner

"kill bill" is also not garbage

man tell me it's better than "muah" and we're through

i think they are on an equal plane if i was breaking the album down tim f style

no way are they equal

i'm not as high on "muah" as yall are apparently - as i said i like the rap but the "i'm the shit, with this shit" part is pretty average by their standards also the song is...... not mixed well or something i feel like? idk

you know what, maybe you just need to be kissed

MUAH <3

^_^

FFFFUUUU-

I wish now that I'd voted for So Good instead of Bed Rest.

The three songs I've heard from this I was a bit underwhelmed by. But none of them did well in this poll. I shall check out the top 4 ASAP.

the top 3 is my top 3

really a shame Friend Lover won

it's an awesome, sturdy track but it's kind of like, not the point

i don't know man, i really like the-dream's michael jackson melodies. and the album's so diverse i don't know if i could say there even is a point, besides them just nailing everything they do.

it is diverse, but i definitely feel there is a musical theme/point, and it's not friend lova.

actually that is exactly how I feel about So Good, it is my favourite track, but it doesn't deserve to be number one because it doesn't really suggest anything about the rest of the album.

hm i guess i can relate to this, but there are other albums where i'd agree much more. to me the only tracks that are non-representative of the album are kill bill and 9 to 5 for their the differences in style/tone and soundscape, respectively.

really? you don't think friend lover sounds really different, in the same way? that's really surprising.

i agree about the other 2, tho 9 to 5 to a lesser extent.

i don't even really consider kill bill part of the album, tbh

@BinkieER so much better by janet j has now been added to my stripper in my mind playlist ! yessssss go me WOMD! bomb

sooo inspired, gonna make a "stripper in my mind" playlist when i get home

@BinkieER if i tell you a duck can pull a truck shut the fuck up and hook it up ! i believe in miracles lol
15 minutes ago from mobile web

it's an awesome, sturdy track but it's kind of like, not the point

― surm, Sunday, September 20, 2009 12:21 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark

otm

i disagree - it's a pretty good archetype of the sleazy girly swag that defines most of the album imo

yeah i really don't see what makes it so different from the rest of the album.

what? ummm how bout the tempo, the vibe, the melody, the... everything?

Friend Lover sounds like it coulda been put out by like, Loose Ends in 1985, except a little more modern. nothing else on this album sounds like that.

aight i wasnt sure if you guys were talking sonics or what; being a (somewhat debateable imo) sonic outlier doesnt mean it's beside the point thematically

ramzi is exactly right

i mean, it's a really great song, but there are certainly tracks that traverse more interesting & unique territory both thematically & lyrically. i don't think it's one of the most quintessential electrik red songs because of, as ramzi points out, the production— which i love, but is super 80s (i think it's noteworthy that it's the only song prod by los)— the theme of it, which says normal shit in a cool way but certainly not along the lines of like "expose my devotion" or the android head-bashing of repeating "we fuck you" over and over again. and i do think the theme of it— friends w benefits, here are the rules etc etc (funnily enough i watched the seinfeld episode re this last night. too bad the-dream didn't add in rule 5: sleeping over is... *optional*!)— is besides the point of what electrik red stands for. the feminism in that song is almost— almost— perfunctory

I dunno, framed like that the album is full of outliers:

So Good - Prince revivalism
P Is For Power - Yo Majesty
9 To 5 - post-R Kelly piano stomper - produced by Los BTW
On Point - Trina
Kill Bill - Britney

In fact I'd say the only tracks which feel "indicative" - in the sense that I think they provide by themselves a reasonably accurate encapsulation of the appeal of ER generally - are "Muah", "Freaky Freaky" and "Drink In My Cup".

ha "kill bill" is kind of a britney song!

"9 to 5" sounds like Prince's "Gotta Broken Heart Again"

ha yeah I was gonna say surely "9 to 5" is more Prince revivalism than R. Kelly

i think the vocal style strings some of those songs together, though, even if the production doesn't

but yeah 9 to 5 is in its own category

"i think the vocal style strings some of those songs together, though, even if the production doesn't"

I'm turning this into a bit of a boring argument but while I totally agree with the above it mainly means that I group all the Naomi-dominated songs (including "Friend Lover").

I also think the 2nd verse of Electrik Red is not only great lyrically (though helped heaps by Naomi's excellent performance) but also really captures the vibe of the group, being that they like the idea of being carefree and independent but they keep falling hard for guys --> this not only matches up with "So Good", "Freaky Freaky", "Bed Rest" and "Go Shawty" but also = the middleground between "expose my devotion" and "we f*** you".

Obv the above balance is a fairly standard R&B trope but no less effective for being so.

"drink in my cup" is an outlier as the only song on the album which isn't about sex! nonetheless it's definitely key to establishing the ER persona.

"friend lover" feels like more of an outlier sonically (apart from "kill bill" which i think of as a bonus track for some reason), it's certainly the least bassy track. anyway if we're talking archetypal tracks the one which fits the bill is obv "muah".

"Get up on me like you wanna do me right here right here right here right here" isn't far off-topic either.

It's been really unexpected how much this album has dominated my life these past few months.

a song called Drink In My Cup could so easily be about sex but yeah

sorry, can i just - are you guys using outlier to mean anything more than "anomaly" or "thing that is different from other things"? it is THE most punchable locution.

I heard "So Good" at the gym last night! Well, laaate last night, i.e. 4:30am. :( But it was immediately followed by "Walkin on the Moon." So savvy programming there!

PUNCH THE CLOCK
putitonmebabyweaintgotmuchtime

I see they are trying to make a second album. Good news.

this didn't get a proper uk release did it?

i didn't think it did, but i just checked itunes and there it is, so i guess it happened after all.

i bought it in hmv? but it might have been an import.

seriously, this fucking album

"freaky freaky" might be just the greatest song there ever was

what would the kickstarter goal have to be for us to fund album #2

is it still a going concern? or have they gone the way of cassie?

i swear the death knell of any r&b singer/girl group is ILM love.

cassie, electrik red, ciara, teedra moses, etc.

srsly let's discuss The Weeknd instead.

Freaky Freaky is def my favorite on here.

mark my words, if i ever come into millions of dollars for any reason, one of my expenses will be an electrik red album, don't care if it's 30 years from now

xxp We tried that! And yet they're still around.

i'd also like to recant any and all negative things i might've ever said about "muah"

i know this would be for that other thread but i'm willing to hear an internal argument from myself that this album is better than love/hate

unquestionably it is

http://twitter.com/#!/nicolaroberts/statuses/72088571988807680

"go shawty" is still super underrated

ascending backing vocals on the chorus

an understated great bridge in an album full of great bridges

tick...boom...EXPLOOOOOODE

prob my fave song on this, def in my top 3

i'd also like to recant any and all negative things i might've ever said about "muah"

― J0rdan S., Monday, June 6, 2011 6:59 PM (1 week ago)

thank you, fuck, thought you were crazy when you were talking shit about this back in the day

still "9 to 5" barely over "devotion" (god this song fucks me up) tho i underrated "go shawty" when this poll came out

oh nice "go shawty" love!

honestly can't believe i ever skipped "9 to 5"

O_o

shame on you

this album is a dimepiece, vol 2 is a must, jordie im a man with steady income lets get this shit hella financed

i think the only moment of this album i don't love is the 'NEW YORK!' adlib on p is for power

before we start
want-you-to-know-that we belong together
like milk
and babies
now GET. ON TOP.

like milk
and babies

was the line? i always thought it had something to do with "mimi"

"we belong together" being the rather obvious clue

wait what

what do people think the line is? i don't hear anything like 'mimi' :/

if that's how it goes i think my version is much better. pretty hilarious, going from innocent milk and babies to the sudden sexual aggression of NOW GET ON TOP. defo sounds like a the-dream lyric.

googling the lyrics has been no help. they all cite the line as incomprehensible

this album really is unfair

she def says "and babies" -- i can't make out the first part tho

it's not mimi cuz it's only one syllable -- it might be milk, tho that's kind of a weird lyric

Terius and Missy are on twitter talking about how slept on this album is <3

Friend Lover? REALLY?

yeah, really.

this poll was done in summer, "friend lover" makes a lot of sense in that context

bless missy <3

thanks for the thread revive. Can't wait for my first listen in months when I get home.

Love this album so much it's kinda scary.

yeah it sounds just as good now as it did when it came out

Yeah, total classic.

was listening to this last week for the first time in a few months and it's just all so great. still not madly in love with kill bill, it feels like a afterthought to the rest of the album but i guess you need something after 'go shawty'

no sure what the /best/ way to end an album like this would be honestly.

devotion/9 to 5/go shawty remain a trifecta of perfect post-Promise slow jamz.

no sure what the /best/ way to end an album like this would be honestly.

"electrik city" (which i've just dumped at the end)

I've stuck electrik city as the first of a seven track mini-ep

electrik city
top rankin'
eye on you
glamour girl
blind
rush into it
friend zone

imma cheat is still my favourite non-album ER track even tho it's a demo for christina milian technically

their "radio killa" harmonizing at the end of "devotion" may be my fav moment on this album

ugh, I need all those early loose ends again. I don't have them on this computer.

connecticut fever

love these ladies.

Can't wait for my first listen in months when I get home.

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, February 21, 2013 1:11 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

having this and it is GIVING ME LIFE

"go shawty" might be the most sublime song on this

I SAID I GET THAT ON
I GET THAT ON

Did they say a new album had been recorded, or was that a dream (heh).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUY9H2nQCjg

fwiw 4 those pining, bridget kelly's half-brilliant 2011 mixtape was quite electrik reminiscent in places and even featured this a+++ terius-written cut

would also suggest some shanell but FUCK YOU

omg wtf

Go Shawty 0

:[

this album is still so so so soooooo soooooooo good

dropped five years ago this month!

don't mean to be a hater but ooo, shit, damn

so happy to hear "Bed Rest" in the Delta terminal at Minn-St Paul airport last week.

palm muted guitars foreva

Most days I'm strutting around the house singing one of their songs. I can't believe how good this album is.

so happy to hear "Bed Rest" in the Delta terminal at Minn-St Paul airport last week.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, May 2, 2014 3:28 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark

lol what

!

Followup a few minutes later: Mary J. Blige's "Far Away." Somebody's iPod, I'm sure, or was eavesdropping on mine.

I hope somebody has been comissioned to do a good five-year anniversary thinkpiece on this and how it inspired a world of r&b producers and bass producers.

truly fucking great: yeah, probly more like 20-30 years later/ Big star /Slint status for this record, which no one cared about in 2009 except nuuuurds on a message board…

Or maybe it ain't shit besides "So Good"

Jk gotta give closer listen

Love this album so much it's kinda scary.

― Tim F, Thursday, 21 February 2013 13:12 (1 year ago) Permalink

^^

listened to this album a few times recently and then was just listening to ciara's "you can get it" and the background vocals during the first verse sound kinda exactly like one of the ER ladies, no?

I still occasionally hear the "bed rest" chorus as "you've got me on benefits".

BENNIES

In my head it has a slightly different resonance: in Australia if you're sufficiently physically or psychologically incapacitated you qualify for a government pension.

So the first few times I heard "Bed Rest" (notwithstanding the title) I half-assumed ER were saying that the sex was so good that even the Federal Government agreed they had to stay at home afterwards.

hahaha

in Australia if you're sufficiently physically or psychologically incapacitated you qualify for a government pension.

we just call this "disability" here

we call it "mooching" here

Yeah but it seems to be only for old people and needs to be permanent in the US? I'm relying on a wikipedia piece here so may be way off base.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disability_pension

naw, my friend in his early 30s collects disability

have we discussed the redistributionist taxation empowerment angle?

lol

orwellclapping.gif

“So Good” is still aces

oh
shit
DAMN

Lol

If I’d voted it would’ve been that or “Muah”

like someone said up thread, there’s a bunch of songs on this that don’t quite work but have a neat turn or phrase

I’m in a Dream/Red/Mariah/Jeremih headspace this month

I have always found this album to be aggressively average

i put this album on for the first time in atleast half a decade to make sure the above post is insane and it is. so many great ideas stuffed into this album and it's still over in the blink of an eye

"freaky freaky" cuz it splits the difference between club track & bedroom track, also cuz it sounds like 90s timbaland imo

― crutboard dudes get subway, totally (J0rdan S.), Monday, August 10, 2009 6:18 AM (eleven years ago)bookmarkflaglink

fav club track: "we fuck you"
fav bedroom track: "go shawty" (generally underrated amongst e-red stans imo)

― crutboard dudes get subway, totally (J0rdan S.), Monday, August 10, 2009 6:19 AM (eleven years ago)

these posts still otm

Best album ever obv

otm

I’d rather just listen to Xscape

yeah I put this on about 6 months ago after not hearing it for a while and it still sounds so fresh. and that’s even before discussing the female empowerment angle

I was talking to a workmate about this album last weekend and I couldn't stop myself getting excited and giddy about all the hooks and lyrical gems it holds