Nicki Minaj - 'Your Love'
It must be murder being a songwriter these days. You've got ten squintillion other would-be tunesmiths all chasing the same tiny drip of inspiration, you've got an audience who have proven time and again that they can be distracted by almost anything, and you've got one topic which you ignore at your peril - love, obv - but which has been raked over more times than the strands of hair in Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔr Simpson's combover.
Props then, to Nicki, for *cough* Minajing to come up with something new-ish to say on the topic, while still borrowing heavily from other people's work.
In case you're struggling to place it, that "doobee-doobee-DO-do-do...aaAAaah!" sample is taken from Annie Lennox's 'No More I Love Yous', a brief meditation on the frustrating and terrifying things which can happen when you let your guard down.
Nicki's version of events is very different. She's got hard evidence that it might just all be worth it after all.
(. It's material-istic.)
OK, she does overstate the case a bit. It's wonderful when you get so carried away by someone that you begin to wonder if the two of you were actually made for each other, the way custard is made for crumble. It's a little much to then wonder how you met in a past life, and to conjecture that you were probably Adam and Eve. And to then go on and wonder if you were a geisha and he was a samurai - "somehow I undertstood him when he spoke Thai" - is just plain hilarious.
But it doesn't undermine the sentiment of the song, which is warm and generous and a bit giggly. That's where the fun is: smiling at the silly lines, and marvelling at the way Nicki's lizard-purr delivery manages to sell them as actual swooning romance...kinda.
There aren't many rappers, male or female, who could make "for your loving I'mma die hard like Bruce Willis" sound cute. From a more macho, sneery mouth it would just sound like you couldn't be bothered to think of anything better. From a younger, less confident gob you'd just be exposing yourself as a shallow idiot.
Here the affection comes through. And as we all know, affection loves company.
Download: Out now
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Music page
(Fraser McAlpine)
"The song isn't bad but it makes me feel Nicki's better seen than heard."
"The sample is dope. The beat knocks. The hook is catchy. Her singing voice is on point (even with the auto tune)."
"her debut album will no doubt fly off the shelves if it indeed comes out later this year."
Comment number 1.
At 18th Sep 2010, thomasfrenton wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 2.
At 18th Sep 2010, stocksy wrote:Eeeeeeeeeeh I love this song, the sample is ace and her voice makes me laugh in a nicest way possible. As if Radio 1 Didn't playlist this.
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Comment number 3.
At 20th Sep 2010, f1fantic wrote:Dev was wrong on the chartshow there have not been 3 acts who have spend two weeks in a row at No1 They are:
Iyaz/ Replay Spent 2 weeks in a row at No1
Owl City/Fireflies Spent 3 weeks at No1. N.B- What happened to them?
Helping Haiti/ Everybody Hurts Spent2 weeks at No1
Tinie Tempah/ Pass Out Spent 2 weeks at No1
Lady GaGa ft Beyonce/ Telephone Spent 2 weeks at No1
Scouting For Girls/ This Ain't A Love Song Spent 2 weeks at No1
Roll Deep/ Good Times Spent 3 weeks at No1
Shout ft Dizzee Rascal & James Corden/ Shout Spent 2 weeks at No1
Katy Perry ft Snoop Dogg/ California Gurls Spent 2 weeks at No1
Alexandra Burke/ Start Without You Spent 2 weeks at No1 at the moment
10 ACTS HAVE SPENT 2 WEEKS IN A ROW AT NO1 DEV
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Comment number 4.
At 20th Sep 2010, stocksy wrote:Oh well :')
And Owl Citys second single flopped so everyone rejected them. WHAT. A. SHAME.
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Comment number 5.
At 20th Sep 2010, SamuraisShadow wrote:Owl city is one person.
I think dev meant 3 acts have been number one twice this year (Roll Deep, Gaga and Dizzee)
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Comment number 6.
At 20th Sep 2010, OddOne wrote:@ stocksy
I liked 'Vanilla Twilight'...
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Comment number 7.
At 21st Sep 2010, stocksy wrote:@5 I forget its one person, with a name like owl city! It sounds like a band, Adam Young does it all by himself. Its not as bad as SOME people who think Example is a band and not a rapper.
@6. That song made me want to up chuck. WAAAAY too mushy goo goo. Umbrella Beach is good though.
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Comment number 8.
At 22nd Sep 2010, spirit wrote:f1fanatic is absolutely correct in his analysis of Dev's statement , and in his correction of the facts .
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Comment number 9.
At 23rd Sep 2010, RandomEnigma wrote:I do actually like this song a lot thanks mainly to the Annie Lennox sampling and the line:
"Shawtie, Imma only tell you this once, you the illest!"
Classic!
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Comment number 10.
At 24th Sep 2010, stocksy wrote:She's soooo cool. I fancy her.
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