nicole scherzinger - SUPER VILLAIN

whoops.

Yeah I was just going to start this thread. This tune is AMAZING... strange, but amazing. Like, I don't even know what to say about it.

if sean kingston opening the doors to some kinda raggafied 60s girlgroup pleasantville is wrong then i don't wanna be right!

That snare hit with the OWWW! is so awesome.

i thought it mightve been lil jon's secret dancehall love coming thru for a sec but it turns out it's some guy called MAD SCIENTIST? haha at first i was like oh that dude that rmxed massive attack, cool!! he is listed as doing vocal production on paula deanda's 'easy' and err that's it. the rich harrisonian key changes are almost too generous a gift to accept.

no, that was mad professor.

u_u

yes thankyou i gathered.

I JUS WANT BADMAN ALONE, I JUS WANT BADMAN ALONE

(pref with opinions on this song)

Woah. This is fab.

agreed. best bit is when the bassy synth line drifts in at 1:12 and again later on for that sense of very satisfying fullness.

kinda wish it was Amerie tho as have found it hard to warm to Nicole for some reason.

kinda wish it was Amerie

dammit i have killed it for me already :(

why tho??? you already imply that yr reservations arent in what yr hearing but in what yr perceiving characterwise (i certainly wouldn't say amerie could bring anything different or do the same things any better on this tune) so what is it that amerie, or nicole, is representing here? not tryna jump down yr throat but the amerie UNQUESTIONING TOKEN INDIE TRUST question could do with some addressing before my head goes and explodes

i mean ok, leggy english lit grads in ooh-la-la garms generally occupy my mind too but my stereo doesnt have to take the hit yknow?

Todd Rundgren Ragga or sump'n. This is really good.

i certainly wouldn't say amerie could bring anything different or do the same things any better on this tune)

whereas i do - from a purely musical/vocal point of view. i just hear the affectations of amerie's voice working so well in this song's chorus particularly. character-wise it may well be that the song subject suits Scherzinger's on-record persona (would-be 'evil fembot' except is she even that interesting? can't seem to come round to her) better. essentially i think amerie's got more charm and think this sort of production would've suited her v well but never mind eh.

to my mind amerie's voice is rounder, fuller, more genial compared to nicole's - qualities that in this partic song the beat alone manages to convey quite well. so rather than doubling up on that vibe, 80s jackie collins superbitch nicole's airy delivery gives u a nice steelier contrast, in that you kinda already knew only a supervillian would do for her but what the hey let's dress it up as a bouncy knockabout 60s thing. which is charming right? whereas for amerie (amelie more like amirite) it'd just be a bit "i said badman, tee hee!"

but i'm not sure nicole's delivery is particularly convincing either (or at least not as satisfying as it could be)! must say the 'bouncy knockabout 60s charming' vibe for the 'i love bastards' theme makes a strange contrast but perhaps that's a good thing. an ameriete version with the only super villain being perhaps an occasionally disobedient puppy would be great too tho.

but Amerie carried off bad girl vibe well enough on 'Touch' anyway

(i will be generous and leave aside the "but 'touch' was a load of cobblers THUS I WIN" loophole!)

'bouncy knockabout 60s charming' vibe for the 'i love bastards' theme is probably the least strange contrast ever in terms of girlgroup songs passim though innit. but cos nicole's a slightly colder (or um hotter) fish than yr average it works on a higher level to a simple genre throwback thing.

puppy supervillain i could down with though. "here, bounty killer! BAD DOG"

mary j blige ft jah cure - he hit me and it felt like a kiss 2007

is probably the least strange contrast ever in terms of girlgroup songs passim though innit.

isn't it usually at least disguised as berating their bastardity but admitting they can't help loving them all the same tho? this is more blatant approval (or even celebration).

i liked 'touch'

she does vaguely say theyre not "good for her soul" but yeah, point taken

Steve it goes back to this doesn't it:

"He's good-bad but not evil"

I love this song so much, and really people should stop fronting and recognize the Nicole is a brillziant vocalist - if anything she sounds a bit like Mya a bit at times here (esp. in the verses), which makes sense as Mya has done this kind of song more than just about anyone in modern R&B, although usually kinda darker than this carnivalesque delicacy.

"Whatever You Like" (is this new? i'm not up on pop currently) is a total Kelis' "Blindfold Me" rip

Nicole, as a singer, is an order of magnitude more versatile than Amerie.

amerie is, however, probably versatile enough that she doesnt have to use the phrase "order of magnitude" everytime she wants to say something.

I totally do not get the jizzing over this track, and I can't quite work out why it isn't clicking for me.

stylus sez.

MT Kafka: This is probably Nicole’s best recorded performance, and I love the way in which the snare rolls and background chants in the chorus are softened by the synthesized strings. It also has the campiest moment in pop this year when she sings “I ride or die!”: she practically spits out the “die!” (so butch, girl!) and then the vowel sound tapers off into something more like a canine whimper.
[7]

John M. Cunningham: As long as Nicole doesn’t mind eliding the distinction between cocky rebelliousness and outright evil (perhaps it’s another chart-pop dissertation on the multivalent meanings of “bad”), then I’m surprised that the video doesn’t feature slo-mo footage of Jonah Hill excitedly drawing penises during that synergistic chorus. Song’s got a good bounce, though.
[6]

Martin Skidmore: I like the style here, bouncy and clicky. I think she’s a fairly weak singer, and the verses here are a bit lame, but the chorus is very good, and it’s apparently produced, appropriately, by the Mad Scientist. I really like about half of this, but there are saggy parts.
[7]

Lee Hampton: The chorus is perfect – simultaneously urgent, uncomfortable, and catchy for the first half which leads into the light and bouncy second half. Fuck that madrigal shit – this is how you make a tone poem. One of the worst bridges I’ve heard all year, though.
[5]

Al Shipley: Where “Whatever You Like” took the femme fatale persona Nicole forged with PCD and gave it a slightly darker spin, this goes in the exact opposite direction, which is surprising, given the title. With those bright synths and her gleefully half-assed fake ragamuffin accent, it’s just so weirdly cheerful, and I’m still not entirely sure what to make of it after coming back to it several times.
[6]

does anyone know if lee hampton's house is available for burning down, at all?

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzingles jukebox.

i dunno, i morbidly enjoy the jukebox. god knows why. worth it for tom ewing's one rvw every 6 months at any rate.

mt kafka is so wrong on both a factual (it's "i'll ride all day" cloth ears!) and critical level i can only assume he's one of those kogan bunnies.

also jaymc wtf r u on about

The whole chorus is Nicole singing "superbad" over and over.

something like 8% of kids will get that joke.

my bad tho!

yeah I only really decided to start contributing to the Jukebox recently because I'm so routinely horrified by the general scores/reviews that I wanted to at least be a voice of dissent when everybody gets it wrong.

Word to that.

loving this.

thank you Tape Store.

this song is definitely mindnumbingly wow.

lol you are always so late

i love 'supervillain' but i still love 'whatever u like' even more

what was the track w/the hawaiian name like in the end? i never bothered to hear it.

blindfold me >>>>>>>> whatever u like

the hawaiian track is "puakenikeni" or something like that, it sucked

actually relistening to it it's not that bad

that song is kinda worthless post-calabria 2007 huh?

what was the song she did w/ t.i.? that one was good

that was "whatever u like", and it was just a less good version of kelis' "blindfold me"

it had an incredible video though - she was on some ring type shit there. her terrifying stare in the pool scene, the body contortions, the hot coals

yeah the video was hot

if she somehow loses to buzz aldrin i think she should be deported

mary j blige ft jah cure - he hit me and it felt like a kiss 2007

― r|t|c, Saturday, 18 August 2007 22:51 (2 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

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

guilty lol

song is still amazing

super villain that is

genuinely love "poison" now

this xfactor performance was legit great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn1tFlWlKcI

smh at everyone saying gaga would've done it better - it wasn't so long ago that gaga was the one biting nicole's entire steez hardcore

I thought the song was a bit nothing-y but the sound on X-Factor could be to blame, it's designed to kill excitement. This is no "Super Villain" tho right?

finally heard Milian's madscientist-devoid version of 'Super Villain' the other week - meeeh

yeah it's no "super villain" but i always preferred "whatever u like" anyway

that was spoiled for me by always hearing Status Quo in my head

imminent album entirely produced by the-dream and tricky, it seems

i would be hyperventilating a few years ago, now i'm cautiously thinking "well let's see if there's any magic left at all"

I remember watching VMAs and Wayne subbing for T.I. on idoidoidowhateveryoulike before he was "officially" big

v important memory

yeah that was funny just because there was no official studio remix with Wayne and he clearly just wrote lyrics for the occasion of the performance and worked in references to MTV and filling in for T.I.

lol yes that was great

imminent album entirely produced by the-dream and tricky, it seems

also... what

when was the last time dream & tricky even worked together? he's been producing by himself or with los for a few years now it seems

every Scherzinger project spends 4-5 years in the vault before hitting the public so it's possible the tracks are that old already

if they're releasing an entire album of five year old songs i'm even more dubious

tbh i'd rather an album of five-year-old terius songs that an album of 2014 terius songs

fair

http://www.popjustice.com/briefing/nicole-scherzinger-your-love-is-very-amazing/127221/

i can't remember who else he's written for recently but everything he worked on on the rihanna and beyone albums was stellar

Nicole Scherzinger is about to storm back with a complete cracker of a single

iggy azalea feature?

i can't really understand doing a top 5 scherzinger songs that doesn't include "super villain" or "whatever u like"

i didn't even realize until looking at wiki just now that Scherzinger had several sizeable solo hits in the UK. that didn't happen at all in the US, never got any real visibility outside of the Pussycat Dolls.

she replaced cheryl cole as an x factor judge and came across pretty well i think

the uk has really become this dumping ground for american flops to rebuild their career because britishers have no clue. then we give them back to you! hence iggy azalea happening.

i just learned that "damaged" was a danity kane song, not a pussycat dolls one

https://soundcloud.com/nicolescherzinger/your-love

I would like a whole album of songs like "I Hate This Part" please.

This new song is amazing.

ready for your love
my love
...
your love. ok

i really like this song, which is surprising

it's not very teriusy at all

but it has all these switch-ups! so much more interesting than the route-one redone bosh nicole did last time

Soundcloud version has gone now, found a youtube cut though - sounds great! Doo doo doo doo....

this song remains amazing. double breakdown!

I hope she's ended up with all the Christina Milian rejected songs from her marriage to Terius

man i went into this hoping to like it and it's like a big pile of foam insulation that's been sprayed with glitter

it's like she finally found the project that perfectly fits her image and skill set that she'd been working towards her entire career up to this point

...oh, you guys were talking about a song and not this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jpHOw2Uqno

breh

oh my god pic.twitter.com/V63Aqmmmtz

— Ahmed/A&R/6ig 6iz (@big_business_) August 8, 2017

public comments asking Russell Brand where she can buy his MAGA-style merch

I always suspected that despite being such a convincing performer she was a bit of an idiot and now we know

☹️

wonder how her Broadway castmates feel -- she's currently starring in Sunset Blvd

ok so she apologized and said she didn't realize her comment could be interpreted as political (the merch in question was a hat that read Make Jesus First Again) ... which, ok, maybe she's just dumb.

but apparently she also liked an Instagram post by RFK Jr. directly supporting Trump. harder to wave away that one.

Tony winner!

Asshole!

What's your take on Scherzinger?
What's your take on Scherzinger?

Wow! Good for her.

Saw her perform last October in Sunset Blvd right before it opened, and holy hell was she just jaw dropping. 4 minute standing ovation for her first number. Good lord. Well deserved Tony. Tom Francis was robbed!

Only saw her perform on the Tonys broadcast, but it was easy to see why she won; she was mesmerizing.