The “Please Me” video just dropped and it matches the ’90s vibe of the song. It’s the standard boy-meet-girl-and-then-they-dance treatment and I have zero complaints. Check it out below.
On the 35th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s historic sweep at the 26th Annual Grammy Awards, it’s only right that this week’s TBT selection is from that album. “Beat It” was the third single from Thriller and the second of its two No. 1 hits — the other being “Billie Jean.”
Written and produced by MJ (with Quincy Jones receiving a co-production credit), “Beat It” was Michael’s first foray into the rock genre, and he bodied that shit. The song won a Grammy for Record of the Year and another Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. That kind of genre-hopping is something we don’t see often, and even when it does happen, few artists have been able to do it quite like Michael.
The “Beat It” video is said to be inspired by the gang activity Michael witnessed as a kid growing up in Gary, Indiana, and features approximately 80 real-life gang members. Over three decades later, it is still considered one of the greatest videos of all time. Check it out below.
Offset released the video for “Quarter Milli” (featuring Gucci Mane) earlier this week, and if this song is any indication of what Father of 4 sounds like, I’m glad I saved my time and energy. Offset — and the Migos as a whole — seem to have hit a creative roadblock. I’m all in favor of artistic trademarks, but at this point, all three Migos are recycling beats and lyrics.
The quality of the song notwithstanding, the video for “Quarter Milli is actually decent. It is set in the ’20s and shows Offset and La Flare playing bank robbers. Check it out below.
The world might only know them from Santana’s “Maria Maria” — a song they’re only “featured” on despite doing all the singing — but the Product G&B’s best work was 2001’s “Cluck Cluck.”
The song was a single from the Dr. Dolittle 2 soundtrack and also appeared on the duo’s debut album, Ghetto & Blues. It was a hit in my little teenage world (and perhaps on the European charts), but it didn’t make much of an impact on the US charts. Eighteen years later, the song is still very special to me and I’m taken back to much simpler times whenever I hear it. If you’ve never heard this song before, thank me later.
Few songs will have you sold within the first five songs, and “Please Me” is one of them. Sonically, the song is squarely in Bruno Mars territory — or, shall I say, Teddy Riley/Jodeci territory — so it is chock-full of melody. Cardi B’s verses are decent, but the most noteworthy part of the song is Cardi singing and sounding like an actual singer (as opposed to a rapper attempting to sing).
The song sounds a lot like “That’s What I Like,” but manages to do so without feeling too derivative. Both songs were co-produced by the Stereotypes, who also produced “Finesse.”
It’s not clear what album “Please Me” will appear on. Cardi B was expected to release a deluxe edition of Invasion of Privacy, but that never happened and the album is not almost a year old, so it’s likely that this song will be on her second studio album.
I’ve always believed that the ’90s was the golden era of movie soundtracks. So many of the decade’s biggest hits were from soundtracks, and so many of the songs that have stuck with me the longest were from movie soundtracks.
A fine example of this is SWV’s “Can We,” which was on 1997’s Booty Call soundtrack. The track features a then up-and-coming Missy Elliott, who was still months away from releasing her debut single. The song was also written and produced by Missy (along with Timbaland).
The song peaked at No. 75 on the Billboard Hot 100 despite topping the airplay chart due to limited availability at retail — the record label only shipped a limited number of vinyls and did not issue a CD release. Basically, that’s the equivalent of a song being released today and only being available as a CD. These labels don’t wanna win.
Chart stats aside, the song is a veritable jam among all those in the know. Click play and get your life.
Making an engaging music video can be difficult even when you include every bell and whistle imaginable. This task becomes even greater when you have zero props, zero special effects and a plain white background; however, when you’re as beautiful as Ciara, anything is possible.
CiCi serves lewk after lewk in the video for “Greatest Love,” and the song isn’t half-bad either.
Check it out below.
Normani just dropped the “Waves” video and it is generally what you would’ve expected it to be — shockingly, there is no wave shot, but everything else is pretty predictable. Lots and lots of galactic imagery.
My feelings about this song haven’t changed in the three months since its release, and I pray to the heavens that Normani has better in store for us. Watch the video below.
The 61st Grammy Awards went down last night, and overall, it was missing a bit of star power. Sure, Michelle Obama made an exciting cameo, but a lot of music’s biggest stars declined invitations to perform — most notably Ariana Grande, who got into somewhat of a public spat with Grammy executive producer Ken Ehrlich.
This year, the Grammys appeared to be going the progressive route. Cardi B made history as the first woman to win the Best Rap Album award, while Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” became the first rap song to win for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. I have written at length about how I feel about that song and video, so I’ma chill on today. I wouldn’t have given Childish Gambino those awards, but its the Grammys and I’m used to being disappointed. Besides, there was an even bigger travesty — more on that later.
H.E.R. won for Best R&B Album and Best R&B Performance, while Drake won for Best Rap Song; his acceptance speech was one of the highlights of the ceremony. Ariana Grande won her first Grammy and Lady Gaga took home three trophies.
The big winner of the night, however, was Kacey Musgraves, who not only won four awards — more than anyone else — but won the night’s big prize: Album of the Year. That’s right. The Recording Academy buttered us up all night just so they could play the same old tricks. I have to laugh.
Cardi B’s live rendition of “Money” was by far the performance of the night.
Fantasia, Yolanda Adams and Andra Day’s joint Aretha Franklin tribute gets an honorable mention. And while it wasn’t officially a performance, Alicia Keys’ double-piano medley also gets a mention because it was simply amazing.
For a full list of this year’s Grammy winners, click here.
Brandy Norwood turns 40 today, which is an insane reality for anyone who remembers when she first made her debut as a teenager. It has been a whole 25 years.
At this point, Brandy has dedicated more than half of her life to entertaining us, and I am truly grateful. As a kid who grew up in the ’90s with three older sisters, Brandy was always in heavy rotation, and as a result, so many of my childhood memories are attached to Brandy songs. And what beautiful songs they were.
As I normally do with these milestone birthdays, I have selected a song for each decade. Picking four Brandy songs wasn’t easy, and there were at least 12 songs in the running, but these were the winners on this particular day. Happy birthday, Brandy!