Melanie Fiona - 4AM

this is one that's blown me away recently to take it out of the rolling r&b thread. it's been around for a few months so i'm v late on it, but the album it's taken from is released next month apparently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbGDZVJ2dVc

it's kind of an obvious "marvin's room" x "try sleeping with a broken heart" hybrid, but melanie fiona sings the hell out of it - the tension between paranoia and righteous rage is so focused and convincing, she brings you right into the situation.

the huge drums and guitars crashing in on the final chorus are so epic >>>>>

Just got covered over at The Singles Jukebox today - scored an aggregate 7 which is pretty decent.

I adore 4 AM but don't want it to be the template for the entire album, given that she's also capable of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AF5okQKqUc

Lead single from the album just got nominated for a Juno in Canada.

She's Canadian, but like most decent Canadian R&B singers, she's not charting in Canada. (Or, she was during her first album when she didn't chart in the US and now that she's breaking in America, we're ignoring her.)

it was the jukebox post that inspired this thread. plsu i still keep listening to it.

i'm fairly sure i was sent, and listened to, her first album, but i can't remember a thing about it and think i found her quite unremarkable - "4am" was quite a surprise

First album was disappointing, especially since "It Kills Me" was such a stunning single. But just about everything from this upcoming record has been fantastic. "4 AM" and "Wrong Side of a Love Song" are both really smart progressions of the persona she introduced on that single.

Aw, I quite liked her lovers rock throwback "Sad Songs" from The Bridge (http://youtu.be/OjYmepzHrFg). it's quite different from 4AM, but it fit right in with the mix of vintage lovers rock where I first encountered it.

i wrote about it in september (it's in portuguese) : http://bodyspace.net/noticia.php?id=001577

^^at the time i wasn't really sure what to think of it, so my blurb was kinda warm. since then, my love for it has increased a lot...

there's also a sean paul rmx...

And a juke mix.

http://soundcloud.com/unorthodoxquality/melanie-fiona-4am-qualo-juke

xp
I was going to say I think I prefer the remix, but they actually work back to back really well.

"Like I Love You" from last year is my favorite thing she's done - alongside her early stuff as Syren Hall ("Somebody Come Get Me" is a classic) and the live mixtape with ?estlove and the Roots (stunning cover of "Cupid" on there). The Bridge was just alright as an album, I tend to agree with Evan here that none of it really lived up to "It Kills Me" which is just a stunning song... "Sad Songs" is nice though, I'd like if she did more stuff in a reggae/one-drop style - that's where she got her start, and she seems most natural there (which is why I think "Like I Love You" is so good)

As far as The MF Life, I really came around to "4 AM" recently after kind of ignoring it when it first dropped. "Gone And Never Coming Back" is a bit TOO bombastic and "epic," the dynamics in that song are all off imo. "Wrong Side of a Love Song" is beautiful but I can't see it working on modern R&B radio - it could be a small urban AC hit but that's it. I'm surprised that "4AM" was huge for her.

"Gone And Never Coming Back" and her Cee-Lo duet "Fool For You" were my two of my favorite R&B radio jams of 2011, "4AM" is on a lower tier but still dope, really getting frustrated by all the pushbacks on this album

i don't get "4AM" but that "wrong side of a love song" upthread is nice. i will listen to all the other ones mentioned.

oh i know "it kills me" and "fool for you" from the radio. those are good songs.

T-Pain is totally unnecessary on this but I like it anyway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsC5lHLgsmM

Yeah cool track

eagerly anticipating 8AM

This is really good

Though in a way I like the songs more than her voice, or despite her voice, or at least not primarily because of the quality of her voice, which can get kind of strained sounding

But on songs in a lower register like "Break Down the Walls" she's really superb

Just got the album, and haven't had the chance to listen to all of it yet but 'Wrong Side of a Love Song' is so goddamn magnificent.

finally getting around to d/ling this

'Break Down The Walls' I like her performance but I'm still warming to the song. Nice guitar, though.

Bones on the other hand is HOLY SHIT AMAZING.

sorry but album is dullsville imo

not a patch on the jazmine or even really last year's j-hud come to think of it

do like 'i been that girl', probably for the kells-isms. "who really fights on a sunday?..."

'4am' is much, much better staged in the remix w/ sean paul as well - love the way it exactly mirrors club build and release with private tension and rage stuck back at home

it's even clever enough to have cast sean paul as the bad boyf in question whom in 2012 you already have a latent natural distrust no matter what he's saying - perfect!

rtc is back!

"4am" is indeed striking…but the following is on my R&B station of choice constantly…I can't stop listening to the goddamn thing…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtE_DgJu1kU&feature=related

ummm…heh…I meant this…I would be thrilled beyond measure if ms Fiona sampled the above

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHDbsEaqh8E

yup that's one of the better cuts on the album, which i think is solid and well-rounded rather than being a fully-formed statement of an aesthetic or persona (as "4am" might have hinted).

"4 AM" is such an outlier to most of her other material that i would never think of that as any kind of statement of her aesthetic. the song w/ J. Cole is prob my least favorite on the album (besides the one with B.o.B, which is apparently the next single, sigh).

I like the J. Cole and B.o.B. tracks, save for the J. Cole and B.o.B. verses, of course.

"Change The Record" reminds me of some of Aretha Franklin's "go girl" pop singles of the '80s, which were kind of cheesy but pretty fun since she sang the hell out of them

"i been that girl", "like i love you", "bones" and "watch me work" are my favourite non-4am ones

every single guest rapper is a disgrace on this album

what's wrong with the Nas verse?

Yeah, sad but true. "If looks could kill then Melanie you'd be a felony." GTFO, J. Cole. Nas's verse is fine, but a little simple. The last 12 months of great Nas verses have conditioned me to expect better.

the hipster line is :/

This album holds up

heard it on the radio last night and was like O.o what is this -- except i had already heard it before. but it WAS quite a breath of fresh air on the radio so i guess i just THOUGHT i hadn't heard it b4