I was planning to write about that boy band song today but the post somehow ended up turning into a rambling mess that can't yet see the light of day (though knowing me two days from now I'll be thinking, "Whatever, just post it anyway" and it'll get posted without any revisions whatsoever); since I can't figure out how to put into words what I wanted to say there, let's just listen to another song I've been meaning to write about forever (and now can finally post in good quality), as well as what blatantly should have been the lead single from an upcoming greatest hits. I mean, really, man, what on Earth are you doing releasing "Away" when you've got this new track on the album?"Takin' Back My Love" (feat. Ciara)
Another RedOne production and, though I'm still more than ready for him to ditch that particular sound effect he always uses, as long as he keeps making songs this great, I'll keep being glad we've got RedOne around. "Takin' Back My Love" is a song I find it a lot easier to be enthusiastic about than "Away,"at least as far as a lead single goes. It's up-tempo (world: "oh, so that's why she likes it more"), synth-backed, insistent, catchy, and actually finds this artist engaging in a change of sound (for him, not for the rest of us used to RedOne's work by this point) that really suits him. With that voice, so perfect for conveying the point near an emotional breakdown, he can pretty easily get away with doing ballads--the voice alone gives them at least a little spark--but "Takin' Back My Love" takes him into full-fledged danceable material that doesn't feel like an unnatural fit for him. In addition to shirking some of the more mismatched urban qualities in songs he may have flirted with before, "Takin' Back My Love" actually gives him a chance to be the party doing the breaking up, as opposed to bemoaning being broken up with or begging for a chance, and, do you know, he does it pretty darn well. Though that voice is of course part of the song, he doesn't play up that "just about to crack" element at all here, and really, the key to this song's appeal is just the music itself, catchy and with that strong synth-pulse that would be welcome on the ears coming out of American radios.
To preorder this artist's Greatest Hits, due out November 11, go here (physical).
Next up: probably not that boy band post--I have a feeling I'll be too on edge tomorrow to be doing any sort of thinking, which is what it needs to clean it up. Maybe a one man boy band song.
