#78 Ryan Cabrera, "Say"

Now I'm livin'
In a beautiful town
There ain't no people
But they love my sound

I was furious with Ryan the first time I heard this song.

Ryan returns, great news! He's written a great handclap-featuring song opening, even better! He's written an amazing verse, too? A lazy day mid-tempo almost jangly acoustic guitar-but-produced thing that conveys an unrushed sense of singer-songwriter ability I didn't expect him to demonstrate after his departure from a major label and try-hard makeover, that has an easy and deserved confidence to it? You're kidding! Could he actually have created a song I can use to win over people who might not have liked him in the past? Well, if this bridge is anything to go by, yes--how catchy, but well-done! Way to go, Ryan! Oh no...

That would be the point where I heard the chorus of "Say" for the first time. For months and months, I couldn't get over the fact that, in comparison to the rest of the song (which also features an excellent floating-but-fast middle 8), the first part of the chorus felt lazy. Where was the craftsmanship and effort that had gone into the rest of the song? How could he suddenly have gotten lazy (in the bad sense) for the most important part of the song? Did he think that since every other element of the song was top quality songwriting he could avoid worrying about one part? Maybe the logic was that the simple, vocally uncomplicated feel of the first part of the chorus is a needed respite from the rest of the song, but given that the rest of the song is intricately simple and deceptively relaxed in sound, I don't think it was all that needed.

I gave in in the end, though. I still think that going on the surprisingly mature level of songwriting he displays throughout the rest of "Say" that Ryan could have done better, could have come up with something to take this song from great to masterpiece--and no joke, it's one brilliant beginning to a chorus away from being that--but I've learned to live with the song we have. "Say," a song for sunny road trips, does not represent the first indication that Ryan could be or is a great songwriter, but it is the first sign that he just might avoid simply growing up and instead mature, in the best possible way.

Find it on: The Mood Under Water

#93 Ryan Cabrera, "Enemies"

Don't say that we're something we're not
We think too much, then we're gonna get caught
Don't say that we're something we're not
The truth is maybe I wanna get caught

Betrayal and revenge are the subject of Ryan Cabrera's first musical hook-up with the '80's. "Enemies" isn't fully synth-pop-rock but it's a step in that direction, which is a surprising but also surprisingly welcome one for Ryan. Originally a member of the teen-pop brigade--on of the artists launched in the early '00's to take advantage of it but with his acoustic guitar always emphasized as part of both his image and his still fully produced and fleshed out musical sound--Ryan struggled to get his second major label album to sell and consequently disappeared for a while. He randomly popped up on So You Think You Can Dance sporting a radically changed hairstyle--gone was his trademark spikey blonde hair and in its place was long curly black hair and a hat. Apparently deciding that wasn't enough to distance himself from his clean-cut past and repaint himself as both part of a scenester-style movement and a "serious artist," when he emerged again, he'd ditched the hat but added a frankly ridiculous black goatee and mustache. Oh, yeah, and also brought some new music with him.

His songwriting skills were apparently uninjured by all the black dye, even if most of America paid no attention. The Mood Under Water is not a brilliant album, but it does have some great songs on it. "Enemies" was one of them. Half confession and half pop-rock blowout, it's the moment where Ryan's still unconvincing altered image comes through and is channeled most successfully. It's the sort of thing that will probably never be cool enough for those dark clubs Ryan is courting but that would do a fantastic job of soundtracking all the goings-on in the darkened corners of those clubs.

Addendum: since Ryan's management apparently seems to see his hair as a Samson-like source of power for him, I feel I must mention that apparently he is now facial hair-free and sporting a spikey brown poofball of hair on his head now. A compromise?

Find it on: The Moon Under Water