Maybe I Need A Little Affection

Amerie “Tell Me You Love Me”

Amerie’s on her home turf here, brashly emoting over a hyper-kinetic beat. Some artists may run away from the aesthetics of their breakthrough single in the interest of avoiding one-hit-wonder status, but Amerie seems intent on making “1 Thing” a genre unto itself, and it’s not a bad idea. Even her least inspired variations on the theme yield enjoyable results, and after all, there’s no sense in avoiding what works so well for you, especially if few other people do anything close to the same thing. “Tell Me You Love Me” flips the ecstatic sound of “1 Thing” into something far more tense and nervous, with the beats seeming to bounce around like neuroses in an anxious mind. She’s singing about trying to make someone love her, and though her exhortations come with the gusto of a distaff James Brown, it’s clear that it’s an uphill battle, and maybe not worth the effort. Can you MAKE anyone love you? I don’t think so. But then again, I’m the guy who fully believes that “I Can’t Make You Love Me” is the most depressing song ever written.

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Amwe “Friction Between The Lovers”

Most of this song seems to be in Japanese, but Amwe does sing the words “friction, friction” in the chorus, but it comes out sounding more like “rickshaw, rickshaw!” That’s about as much insight I have into this song on a lyrical level, but it’s probably enough, since that buzzsaw keyboard part and the jumpy rhythm are more to the point. Amwe’s voice isn’t rough and tumble, but it’s just assertive enough to fit comfortably with the hardness of the hooks while toning down the harshness a bit.

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