I just don't get the vocal production on this song. The guys' voices are digitized on the hook, I guess because they can't blend or the producers don't really care about what it actually means to be a male R&B vocal group.
When you hear a Day26 song, you here an overly democratic approach to leads where the weakest vocalists (Willie and Que) are given equal weight with the strongest (Brian and Robert) such that the overall effect is to completely undersell any emotion or idea that might be in the song. And because they aren't bothering to harmonize there is no way for them to develop a sound unique to them that will help create in your mind who Day26 is supposed to be.
And that's really the issue here: these guys don't suggest a single image or identity that makes them standout or even interesting. There is no Alex Vanderpool like Boyz II Men or the romantic thug image of Jodeci or the sexual bravado of H-Town or Silk or even the church boy gospelly soul of an Intro or a Playa.
It's clear no one on Day26's team has any vision for what to do with them. And they themselves seem content to sing whatever sounds current enough to chart. It's generic trendy producers working with generically talented men to create ... not much of anything.
I have such a strange, persistent soft spot for Day26. I even went back and created a tag on this blog a year ago because I've written about them a lot.
But I don't really know how much longer that will be the case.
At this point, I'm not even sure why I'm even mildly concerned with Day26's career. This video just further shows that this is a group of five men who probably shouldn't be recording together, or at least, should not be allowed to choose the material they sing.
This song is completely formless. It has no passion, it doesn't rise or fall or even seem to have a pulse. I don't even know what it's about. The vocal arrangement benefits Brian quite well here, but seems to force Q into a weird vocal place where he sounds like something is lodged in his throat.
Visually, Brian continues to be the only guy who understands how to play to the camera. He just oozes charisma. Everyone else looks pained and uncomfortable, save Robert, who looks insane.
I'm so done with Will and Q as lead vocalists (they should not sing lead), but Robert's autotuned vocals are disgusting. He's easily the best singer in the group, he knows it, but his dogged attempt to be some bootleg Sean Garrett/Kanye West is embarrassing (at worst) and insincere (at best). Dude - just SANG.
It's worth pointing out that Puff played a huge role in the imaging of Jodeci, perhaps the most influential male group of the last 30 years not New Edition. That he hasn't taken the reins with Day26 and molded them into a fantastic vocal group (which they could definitely be) is sad, if predictable. If there's one thing Puff can do, it's sell shit to White folks and young Black kids without any real sense of their people's musical heritage. In his early work, he translated what Teddy was doing musically into an image that he could sell. That was important, if maddening.
But now, I don't think dude's head is in making music anymore. He seems to let his groups flounder almost for sport. People should stop trying get signed to his label.
I think Day26, on some level, knows this. Their videos seem desperate, pleading, as if they are holding onto them 15 minutes like their lives depended on it.
And maybe they do.
But the first mistake everyone involved in this mess made was giving the fellas any say in the music they would make this go round. They are clearly not capable of picking good material. It's okay though. That doesn't make them any less talented or any less deserving of a shot at a music career, it just means people who know music inside and out should be guiding them.
A&R is a lost art in today's artist-must-have-creative-control-whether-they-are-creative-or-not era. One needn't be Berry Gordy'd into submission, but there should be someone to tell Robert, "hey, the hair?, yea no. just no," and tell all five guys that trend-jocking gets you nowhere fast. I mean, they record an album full of autotune right as Sean Carter records "Death of Autotune."
Confusing trends with actual shifts in the musical landscape means you don't get to make the big decisions, kids.
DAMN. This really should have been the first single if for no other reason than the fact that this feels like a progression from the Got Me Goin video. I think that it also would have drummed up some interesting in their album (not that they deserve it, Forever In A Day is so pedestrian and such a trend-jockin piece of shit).
It almost makes me like the song. Almost.
That said, it's nice to see Day26 recover some of that swag, man. The video concept is minimalist and edited extremely well and definitely elevates the song to the level it needs to (given its melodrama).
Though Brian, despite being easily the most charismatic video performer in the group, is inconsistent as hell. He is so watchable on his verse, but from that point on he looks like he gonna pop a blood vessel hard as he singin.
It's also interesting to see that though Mike and Robert are easily the best singers in the group, they are terrible to watch in videos (Robert - do you even play guitar, homie. Give the kids back their hairstyle dude, it's not working). They sound amazing though, if too good for a song that is built around production wizardry, not the melody (which, come on, is barely there).
Que and Will -- so pretty -- are so devoid of personality that they literally blend into the background. They look like digital creations. Fellas, emote. Come on, it makes you cool. Ironically, they are prettier than the needless, pointless, obligatory window-dressing girls, which should NEVER happen if you're a boy band. Probably would have been smarter to not have had any women in the video since they don't do anything and aren't Melyssa Ford-fine enough to grab the attention from Will's cheekbones.
It's atmospheric, which actually masks that the bassline is essentially a standard dirty south-lite beat you've heard before a million times. More importantly, the vocals are terrific. The vocal mix gives the song real weight. Brian and Mike hold down the second verse beautifully and Robert's piercing pitch perfect singing anchors the entire song (listen to those notes on the hook).
How did Day26 go from the seemingly effortless cool of this:
...to this trendy cacophonous mess (with Yung Joc, no less):
??????????????????????????????
Seriously, there are so many things wrong with this:
1. Willie is the only one who looks good, but he should never sing lead. Ditto for Q. Ironically, if you had told me that Day26 would shift from the next 112 to the next Pretty Ricky, I'da told you that vocally Willie and Q would be perfect for such thin melodies. I was wrong. They have zero vocal authority. In Willie's case, it's particularly sad because....so.pretty.
2. Yung Joc.
3. Robert's hair.
4. Brian is singing way too hard.
5. Puffy's presence
6. Y'all ain't puttin it on nobody. Seriously - what swag they had on Got Me Going is completely absent here. Is this even the same group? Aren't you supposed to be better with the next album? Even reliable Brian, who has video charisma to spare, ain't bringin it.
7. This song is beneath their talents. I don't necessarily think they needed to stick with what worked on the last album, but chasing a radio and club hit (I'm lookin at you, Willie) only works if its good. This ain't it. And who mixed the vocals? Geez. This is truly awful.
D. Woods is a fuckin star, kids! I’m not really into Danity Kane, but whenever they pop up in magazines or on TV or on a blog, i’m always drawn to D. It started with how she dominates the single Ride For You with her vocalizing at the end.
But then it really picked up with the recent King pictures and how she handled Robert from Day 26 on the infamous "bitchassness" episode. She was real calm with hers. She wasn’t trippin off him but she wasn’t berating him or belittling him. She just had madd flavor and composure that seemed innate.
Side note: Said episode is the first full episode of anything I’ve watched on MTV in 10 years. I was in a hotel and election-coveraged out! Sue me.
The other thing is, she seems like a regular down chick. None of that unattainable high fashion whitified shit that Beyonce and nem are doin.
I was talking to a friend about why Danity Kane sorta exists in the periphery of my musical field of vision. I sorta respect the multicultural thing, but then you run into the awkwardness of the white girls talkin bout how they "ride slow" and it’s just unconvincing (nevermind, the inherent silliness of the lyrics in the first place). But when I listen to them, the only voices that really stand out are D. and Dawn. They are fuller, they are richer, and they tend to not be forcing anything. ’
That, and their music (mostly) sucks. That they didn’t release Right Now, from the first album, as a single is criminal. And the new album is an unmitigated disaster that makes Janet’s album look like Aaliyah. It’s overprocessed, silly, juvenile, and buries the genuine beauty of the singing (particuarly Dawn’s voice...CRIMINAL!). Hey Puff - pop music doesn’t have to be moronic and cheesy, brotha.
So I kinda want Puff to ditch the white girls and make D. and Dawn into a 21st century Zhane/Changing Faces with the Total image and appeal. HOTNESS!!!
I am endlessly fascinated with how much I am diggin these cats.
They can really sing and the first single is about as perfect as a pop song can get. That said, I think what’s funny is that even with his "bitchass" attitude (though Puffy callin other people "bitches" is ironic beyond belief, so this tag is dubious in my mind) Robert is clearly the best singer in the group. So it was fascinating to watch him struggle with fitting in when frankly his voice is way more dexterous than any of the material really requires (hence his struggle).
Even so, I’m really feelin these cats and if Puff don’t mess it up they could be major.
Peep the video and listen to Robert’s voice. Flawless!
Lastly,
my favorite photo of Mr. Raymond
Let's just get it out of the way and say that Usher is the premier black pop artist of his generation. Cause...well, it's true.
And what I love about Usher is on display beautifully on a couple of songs floating around the internet. The one, I Can't Win, written by Ne-Yo is a perfect example of how great a Ne-Yo song can sound when you get a true, real vocalist to sing it. I love Ne-Yo, but listening to Usher sing this song immediately made me think how much better an album Because of You would have been with a true vocalist. Ne-Yo is a terrific artist, a brilliant songwriter, but as a singer, he's still finding himself.
After 4 years, it's nice to be reminded what pop music can really be about. Usher has never been about the dancing, at least not for me. He's a singer in the classic sense of the word. He understands, intrinsically it seems, how to communicate the emotion in each song. On I Can't Win, Usher injects real emotion (in this case, sadness) into a beautifully understated vocal.
