couple of these tracks bite tinashe's style haaaaaaard, particularly "needed me" and "yeah, i said it"
― metro slothrop want some more (slothroprhymes), Thursday, 28 January 2016 17:27 (eight years ago) link
Honestly this album feels like the result of Rihanna just saying "fuck it, let's just put out what we have" and the end result is actually still pretty great. It's messy but it works.
― Greer, Thursday, 28 January 2016 17:48 (eight years ago) link
this and that miley album seem to be starting a trend of sorts
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:03 (eight years ago) link
katherine otm wrt camps
autotune/melodyne fingerprints all over this suggest they sometimes might have had only one vocal take to work with, giving the record the feeling of like, a diary of individual unplanned moments of spontaneous emotional engagement on the part of the performer
in the end, for me, the record being frequently unguarded and personal to the point of sometimes feeling voyeuristic makes for a pretty satisfying response to the last few years of castoffs like "chandelier" and "we can't stop" becoming omnipresent billboard hits. the riri hitmaking machine became so efficient that it essentially became sentient and started operating without her, so she turns around and makes a record based around messier human qualities that can't be faked or convincingly imitated by others
― james brooks, Thursday, 28 January 2016 22:53 (eight years ago) link
― james brooks, Thursday, January 28, 2016 5:53 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I kinda feel like it's more "ok, please just record this thing, just one take please"
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:01 (eight years ago) link
anyway here is my #take: it's instructive to compare "birthday cake" with "james joint" -- one is a barely 1:15 "song" that was blatantly unfinished and turned into a horrific tabloid monstrosity involving chris brown. one is a barely 1:15 song that's very pretty and feels sincere
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:03 (eight years ago) link
rihanna's vocals have sounded one-take for years. she's often turned that hoarse scratchiness in her voice into a positive (BBHMM is a prime example) but very often it just sounds blarey and at times unlistenable (seriously "higher", WHO TOLD HER THAT WAS OKAY - rtc did you ever get beyond "woo"? you have to at least hear "higher")
though the one-take thing is evident even more in her (lack of) phrasing
a second listen has already changed my mind about winehouse being a good look for her
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:43 (eight years ago) link
feel like putting "woo" in the rolling worst songs thread
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:53 (eight years ago) link
it is so bad
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:04 (eight years ago) link
"love on the brain" was the standout to me after one listen.
― art baengels (monotony), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:07 (eight years ago) link
her vocals are so good on "higher"
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yeah idk
― art baengels (monotony), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:08 (eight years ago) link
i love the tame impala cover and i'm dreaming about rihanna going through the entire tame impala catalog
― j. winters (josh), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:10 (eight years ago) link
i...assumed that was sarcasm :/
xp
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:10 (eight years ago) link
also "kiss it better" is ingenious; i need a loop of it playing when my body is shot into space when i die
― j. winters (josh), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:11 (eight years ago) link
I actually like "higher," her voice suits the last-callness of it
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:14 (eight years ago) link
people really seem to either love or hate "Higher" everywhere
― apple bottom steen, HOOS with the fur (some dude), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:18 (eight years ago) link
"higher" is one of the only songs of hers i've ever connected to emotionally and a major reason for that is that i think there's a real rawness and authenticity to her vocals
― J0rdan S., Friday, 29 January 2016 00:20 (eight years ago) link
"higher" would've made a helluva closer but alas
it works because she's essentially screaming into the void with no response which enhances the sense of isolation and melodrama, to have that dusty violin remain present when it was there the whole time, twirling in the air and keeping her company
― j. winters (josh), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:23 (eight years ago) link
i get it but it sucks to listen to
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:24 (eight years ago) link
there are plenty of rihanna ballads where she's trying to sing "correctly" but obv doesn't have the vocal talent to pull it off. if you can ride with those songs i don't really get how you draw the line at a song where she's clearly singing raggedly as a way of heightening the effect of a song that's about being emotionally spent.
― J0rdan S., Friday, 29 January 2016 00:25 (eight years ago) link
also i think there's a richness to her voice on that song that she's actually cutting through, it works on both fronts
― J0rdan S., Friday, 29 January 2016 00:28 (eight years ago) link
prediction: 50% of the people in this thread will come around to "higher" eventually and it'll probably be after 12 a.m. on that particular night
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:28 (eight years ago) link
^^^
― j. winters (josh), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:29 (eight years ago) link
there's ragged singing that magnifies the emotions in a song and there's ragged singing that's still unconvincing and "higher" is def the latter
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:35 (eight years ago) link
i've obviously never heard the tame impala original and am mildly disgusted that this cover exists, but in terms of both song and production it's really a standout, albeit by low standards
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:36 (eight years ago) link
the tame impala original is the exact same thing, with kevin parker singing. i will say i prefer rihanna's voice
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Friday, 29 January 2016 00:39 (eight years ago) link
― cher guevara (lex pretend), Thursday, January 28, 2016 7:35 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark
you're wrong but taste is taste
― J0rdan S., Friday, 29 January 2016 00:40 (eight years ago) link
yeah i get that the desperation in her voice is sort of ~the point~ with "higher" but all the same i wish she'd done a second vocal take. everything else about the song (lyrics, instrumentation) i am very down with
― art baengels (monotony), Friday, 29 January 2016 01:05 (eight years ago) link
welp already feeling this album on less than day one of hearing it, see you all here in six months
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Friday, 29 January 2016 03:33 (eight years ago) link
brad is correct that they are basically identical, which makes the kneejerk hatred towards the unheard original very amusing
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, 29 January 2016 03:39 (eight years ago) link
a lot of people are reckoning with the fact that they like a tame impala song, yes
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Friday, 29 January 2016 03:47 (eight years ago) link
makes me wonder whether all those "let it happen" haters ever listened to it!!!!
(rihanna covering let it happen would be something to behold)
― art baengels (monotony), Friday, 29 January 2016 03:49 (eight years ago) link
I don't not like Tame Impala. They mainly just never make any impression on me whatsoever. But I did find "Let It Happen" to be a test of my patience.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Friday, 29 January 2016 03:53 (eight years ago) link
I mean I'm not a big fan of his but having one of his songs to get covered or for him to do production work for someone big has seemed inevitable to me since "Feels Like We..."
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, 29 January 2016 03:58 (eight years ago) link
I foresee a lot of people acting like this is a huge new thing for rihanna, like, this is the person who built an entire song (drunk on love) around the xx before they fell off
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Friday, 29 January 2016 04:11 (eight years ago) link
you know what i think i'm a closeted tame impala fan and i'm not afraid to share this tidbit of information with y'all
― j. winters (josh), Friday, 29 January 2016 05:10 (eight years ago) link
hmm, is it just me/my system (entirely possible) or is the mixing of james joint fucking terrible
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Friday, 29 January 2016 06:04 (eight years ago) link
the riri hitmaking machine became so efficient that it essentially became sentient and started operating without her, so she turns around and makes a record based around messier human qualities that can't be faked or convincingly imitated by others
Love this
― impossible raver (Re-Make/Re-Model), Friday, 29 January 2016 09:06 (eight years ago) link
Is there any precedent for Rihanna's Tame Impala cover? I've never ever heard a pop act cover a song before by just singing over the original instrumental and calling it a day. At least not on an official commercial release anyway? Hilarious either way
― MrExplorer, Friday, 29 January 2016 09:13 (eight years ago) link
tons of precedent I'm sure, though maybe not recently
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, 29 January 2016 13:06 (eight years ago) link
I wish she'd just replaced Woo with Pose - it's everything Woo wants to be and then some. That being said, I like this more than I did yesterday, Thumbs up to Higher, too.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Friday, 29 January 2016 13:29 (eight years ago) link
xpostlol maybe this *is* Rihanna's dancehall album
― rob, Friday, 29 January 2016 14:33 (eight years ago) link
― MrExplorer, Friday, January 29, 2016 4:13 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I still think he just wrote the song for rihanna originally. he was writing for kylie and others, why not her?
― a self-reinforcing downward spiral of male-centric indie (katherine), Friday, 29 January 2016 17:07 (eight years ago) link
according to pfork she asked for the song after hearing it on the tame impala record?
who knows though
― HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Friday, 29 January 2016 17:58 (eight years ago) link
OK I made it to "Woo."
Will check out the art show if it comes to town.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 29 January 2016 18:22 (eight years ago) link
i think "stay" was a similar situation actually, just with a much more obscure artist who ended up making his continued presence on the song a condition of his giving permission for rih to record it
― james brooks, Friday, 29 January 2016 20:26 (eight years ago) link
and what a career it sparked
― J0rdan S., Friday, 29 January 2016 20:45 (eight years ago) link
help I can't stop listening to "Work"
― The Reverend, Friday, 29 January 2016 21:57 (eight years ago) link
lol at some of you trying to justify your approval for a Tame Impala track.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 29 January 2016 22:10 (eight years ago) link
And it's a fucking lazy and needless cover. Drunk in Love was based on an instrumental so at least she had to work her vocals around it, this is Rihannas's Karaoke version.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 29 January 2016 22:20 (eight years ago) link