Want To Want Me
I can’t get this song out of my head. I know, I know, it was a hit a couple of months ago, but this aged boy only discovered it this week on Spotify’s Top Hits in the USA playlist, or something like that. That’s right, I’ve given up on Apple Music. No matter what Jimmy Iovine says its curation is not defining, there are new tracks every week and the app’s a battery hog and it imported all the playlists from my iTunes library that I don’t use rendering my MP3s I do sync to my phone unusable so I’m back to Spotify. And Deezer Elite.
And the other night I heard Selena Gomez’s track “Good For You” on Sirius XM and was stunned how good it sounded, so that was my incentive to pull up the pop hits and… I discovered this.
It’s kind of a cross between Billy Ocean’s “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car” and the breathy voice Prince employed in the beginning and it’s so damn infectious it puts a smile on my face and has me dancing in the room, and I’m a stationary guy unless the music moves me.
I knew his name. But the acts come and go, they’re too often fronts for old men. But I researched him and found out Jason Derulo had a slew of hits. And started off at Cash Money and was now releasing records via the Warner empire.
So the problem we’ve got is the scene is too vast for anybody to understand. And too often people dismiss genres, they’re believers in what they already know. But you already do know this sound, and love it, you just haven’t heard it done so well in such a long time. You think too much of the Top Forty is a laugh, base stuff you can’t sing along to…
The intro is reminiscent of Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me,” however brief. And then…
It’s too hard to sleep
You’re hooked immediately. It’s the underlying rhythm. The melodic vocal line, delivered so intimately. But what puts it over the top is the anthemic chorus…
Girl, you’re the one I want to want me
And if you want me, girl, you got me
That’s the era we live in, one in which one listen is sufficient, where you get it immediately, where you know the song right away and are elated.
There are Michael Jackson whoops. And I’d be lying if I said that “Want To Want Me” is original, it’s derivative, but in this era where we’re waiting for a revolution, something to break down the barriers, this’ll do.
And it’s not only “Want To Want Me,” it’s the follow-up track, “Cheyenne,” too. Which is quieter, more dreamy, with the feel of a George Michael solo cut, but with even more intensity.
You hear this stuff and wonder where you’ve been, how you could have missed out on something so great, something that’s been hiding in plain sight. Taylor Swift called Jason Derulo up on stage, but unless you’re a denizen of the Top Forty, you’re probably clueless, to your detriment. Why can’t Apple Music have ONE playlist, with FIVE tracks MAX! Genre is irrelevant, quality is the only criterion. You believe you hate rap and then you go to “Hamilton” and are blown away. Even the most dyed-in-the-wool rockers are gonna love these Jason Derulo tracks. Well, maybe not. But remember when Stevie Wonder was a favorite of both the blacks and whites, when we thought he was so good colors and styles disappeared..? Well, Jason Derulo ain’t THAT good, but in the sea of mediocrity he climbs to the top of the heap.
CHECK THIS OUT!
