December 2nd, 2015 1:15pm
There Are Better Things For Me
Wet “Deadwater”
Wet’s music has a lot of superficial gloss that connects it to the more adult contemporary end of modern R&B, but their melodic style isn’t rooted much in soul. A song like “Deadwater” feels more simpatico with melancholy teen pop from the early ‘90s, or even folksy pop like Melanie from the ‘60s. The melody is particularly strong, and I love the way the natural tone of Kelly Zutrau’s voice has this bright, optimistic quality as the melody signals sadness and the lyrics are mostly an expression of futility.
Buy it from Amazon.
Demi Lovato “Stone Cold”
I’ve dismissed Demi Lovato as a second string version of Katy Perry who turns up with bland Perry-like hits whenever the real deal is between album cycles, and while I stand by that assessment of songs like “Cool for the Summer” and “Skyscraper,” the ballad “Stone Cold” reveals something in Lovato that’s not as easily written off. The song is pitched somewhere between understated minimalism and scenery-chewing melodrama, with Lovato belting out some lines like she’s trying to make Christina Aguilera seem subtle by comparison. I think that actually works for the song, though – it’s not hard to imagine a more graceful version of it that shades in the R&B-gospel qualities of the melody, but going way over the top gives it a touch of maudlin camp that enhances rather than undermines the raw emotion at the core of it. She basically sounds like she’s slaying her own song at karaoke, and that’s kinda brilliant.
Buy it from Amazon.