Tag Archives: Rihanna

Grammys

Record of the Year 2017

The nominees for Record of the Year are:

  • “Hello” by Adele
  • “Formation” by Beyoncé
  • “7 Years” by Lukas Graham
  • “Work” by Rihanna feat. Drake
  • “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots

Who Should Win: “Stressed Out” by Twenty One Pilots

I would be totally fine with Beyoncé, Adele, or Twenty One Pilots winning Record of the Year, but as a fake Grammy voter I cast my ballot for “Stressed Out” because find the instrumentation of it great – the synthesis string work is a real ear-grabber, and the rapped verses and sung chorus really work.

Who Will Win: “Hello” by Adele

Again, I predict Adele will win all her nominations simply because she doesn’t typically lose.  But, hey, “Hello” is an incredible record.

Music

Shine Bright Like a Diamond

Almost two years ago, I wrote about how Sia wrote the song “Perfume” for Britney Spears.  At the time, I knew Sia wrote Rihanna’s song “Diamonds,” but I couldn’t find the demo of it.  I looked high and low for it because I think Sia has such a unique voice and songwriting style, so I’d love to hear her sing “Diamonds.”

Welp, I found it.  Or a version of it.  It’s not all flashy like Rihanna’s version, but here it is.

I feel like Sia should release an album of “covers” of songs she wrote and sold to other people.

#PhillipRadio, Music, Phillip's Opinion

“Stay” – Playlist

Do you know how many songs there are entitled “Stay?”  A lot.  There’s that Rihanna song, the Lisa Loeb one, and the Grammy Award Winning one by Sugarland.  I decided to make another playlist, but with all songs titled “Stay.”

 

My favorite is Lisa Loeb‘s version (it also was a #PhillipsSongOfTheDay).  That song to me is rather refreshing; she’s admitting she was wrong, and is pleading with her loved one to come back.  There is a rawness in that song that conveys a relative deep level of hurt that I really connect with.  A close second  to Lisa Loeb’s “Stay,” is “Stay” by Sugarland.  The guitar in that song is phenomenal, and Jennifer Nettles is an incredible songwriter (she won many awards for writing that song, including the Grammy for Best Country Song), but I find Nettle’s vocals rather…um…harsh.  I mean, Jennifer Nettles is an incredible vocalist and has an intense passion for making music, but I feel like “Stay” by Sugarland is supposed to be a softer than the way she actually delivered it.

I bring up this playlist of all songs named “Stay” because I think it emphasizes exactly what not to do as a songwriter: give your song a common title.  If you search iTunes or Spotify for “Stay,” there are hundreds of songs, a lot of them are covers.  As a musician, you want to stand out (from a business perspective).  Why would you give a song a name that a hundred other songs are named?

One counterargument would be that, as a songwriter, you don’t write to the name of the song.  You tell the story the way it needs to be told, and the name just kind of stands out in the lyrics (at least that’s how I do it).  However, there is a way around this.  For example, on her latest album Red, Taylor Swift had a song that clearly should be named “Stay.”  Instead of falling into that trap, she named the song “Stay Stay Stay,” a very unique and original title.  Another thing the songwriter could do is give the song a title that does not come from the lyrics.  Lorde is a big fan of doing this; the phrase “400 Lux” does not appear once in the song “400 Lux,” and the phrase “buzzcut season” appears once in “Buzzcut Season,” like how “ribs” appears once in “Ribs.”  I’m not telling other songwriters how to write their songs, but my opinion is that you want to give your song its own identity that people want to listen to that song as opposed to any other song.  If I have a song “Stay,” then why would you listen to me over Rihanna?  We’re both clearly demanding our loved one to stay, regardless of the situation.

 

#PhillipsSongOfTheDay, Music

Rihanna’s Russian Roulette

It’s creepy.  It’s dark, perhaps even sinister. But “Russian Roulette” by Rihanna is #PhillipsSongOfTheDay.

This song is incredible and awful at the same time.  I say that because while the songwriting and performance is phenomenal, the overall theme of the song is just too dark for my taste.  I first want to commend songwriters Shaffer Smith and Charles Harmon for their ability of telling such an in-depth story.  While it is simply a story of a person (or persons) playing a game of russian roulette, it captures the terrified emotion of the narrator, and it brings in the ideas of the meaning of life  and how one’s actions have consequences.  For example, the character in this song starts to realize while they are playing this game that they may actually die, the ultimate loss:

“I’m wondering, will I ever see another sunrise?

So many won’t get the chance to say good-bye

But its too late to think of the value of my life.”

The fact that this song has so many layers that are so intricately woven in themselves is just incredible, and I really admire that as a songwriter.  I personally find when I write songs that my songs need to convey the specific emotion or feeling while, if possible, telling a story, which “Russian Roulette” does.  I find poorly written songs tend to be so broad that it’s impossible to connect with or understand what the song is conveying.  On the opposite side of the spectrum, if a song is too detailed or has too much in it, it may deter listeners as it may be overly complicated or suggest a behavior that is not desirable.  “Russian Roulette” may possibly do this.

At the very last second of this song, a gun shot is fired off, suggesting that the character pulled the gun and died (sad face).  That, to me, is an example of how this song is inspiring and disgusting.  The gun shot furthers the story and causes the listener to paint their own mental image, but at the same time it’s not really a delicious image to envision.  This may be how Smith and Harmon put too much info into the song; like, we get it, Rihanna’s character is freaked out…does she really need to die?

I also want to commend Rihanna’s vocal ability of evoking such dark emotion.  Specifically, at the parts where she sings:

“And you can see my heart beating

You can see it through my chest.

Said I’m terrified but I’m not leaving

I know that I must pass this test

So, just pull the trigger”

It’s at moments like these where Rihanna’s vibrato is prominent and sheds the almost perplexed fear of the narrator.  I honestly think the song would not work if Rihanna’s vocal performance was not as strong as it is here.

Check out this lyric video of “Russian Roulette,” listen for Rihanna’s incredible vibrato/vocal delivery:

#PhillipRadio, Music, StoryTime

Your Snow Shoveling Playlist

With today’s blizzard-like snow here in the arctic, here’s my snow shoveling playlist.  It helps plow through the snow and stay positive that spring is almost here (hopefully):

  1. “Closer” – Tegan & Sara
  2. “Where Is My Mind?” – Pixies
  3. “10538 Overture” – Electric Light Orchestra
  4. “Just Dance” – Lady Gaga
  5. “Bad Romance [the Skrillex Remix]” – Lady Gaga
  6. “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together  – Taylor Swift
  7. “The Monster [feat. Rihanna]” – Eminem
  8. “Viva la Vida” – Coldplay
  9. “Bass Down Low” – Dev
  10. “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)” – Fall Out Boy