Finding the Rhythm

When lyrics and production collide

January 15, 2009 at 3:16 pm Leave a comment

Last week, I received a promo for a new song from Amy Studt, a singer/songwriter based in the UK. The song, Nice Boys, really got my attention.

WaWa, a Polish production team, have been kicking-out some great productions lately, and Studt’s track is one of them. I was immediately taken with the snappy arrangement; it’s just one of those rare songs that has me chair dancing the very first moment I hear it. It went into the “play this” pile without a second thought.

A good friend of mine for whom I played the song had a very different reaction to it. “It’s awful,” he said, causing me to wonder what the heck I missed. He explained that he couldn’t get past the key lyric: nice guys finish last.

When I listened to the song again, I guess I found myself having the same reaction to it. But I was still chair dancing.

I think what I find so interesting about this (and admittedly, I’m about the only one who’ll find it interesting) is that I “trained” this particular friend to listen to lyrics. “I didn’t listen to lyrics before you started pointing them out,” he told me at one point several months ago.

So, this is all my fault.

I do listen to lyrics, and a lot of it is because I have a tendency to sing to the songs when I DJ. (Fans can be thankful I usually have the mic turned-off or away from my mouth.) But in this particular case, I guess it was subconcious, because here I was, singing along with and enjoying lyrics I really wasn’t paying attention to.

Like my friend, I’ve dismissed songs in the past due to lyrical content (which is one of a few reasons I don’t play Beyoncé’s Single Ladies; I find it hard to choke-down how she belts them out in her overwrought and now very tiresome style). But obviously what constitutes a “good song” is both multi-dimensional—and very subjective.

Crank it up…

Wes

Entry filed under: Dance Music. Tags: Amy Studt, Beyonce, WaWa.