A few months ago
I expounded upon the pop music gold that can result when a veteran top-shelf singer and a veteran top-shelf producer join forces, as I said
Pink and
Max Martin had done on the new single "Raise Your Glass," which went on to hit number one on the Hot 100 - and the review remains Vertigo Shtick's most visited post to date. Other such divine collaborations come to mind, like
Madonna and
William Orbit dramatically redefining not just Madonna's musical direction but that of pop music itself with
Ray of Light; the continuing strength of old production partners
Missy Elliott and
Timbaland; and, it increasingly appears, the initially worrisome but surprisingly explosive teaming of
Britney Spears with Max Martin and
Dr. Luke just as their ubiquity risked becoming a liability.
The only thing that compares to the power and expertise that make Premier League collaborations like Pink and Martin so major is the electric rush that results when a pair of hot newcomers spark lightning.
Lady Gaga and
RedOne are the most recent and supreme example, just as Elliott and Timbaland,
Beyoncé &
Rich Harrison ("Crazy in Love"), and Max Martin & Britney Spears were in their brilliant, game-changing early days. Even without single-handedly changing the course of music, this is the magic that made
Kimberly Cole's massively underappreciated debut album
Bad Girls Club a surprise gem, crafted
Cee Lo Green's
The Lady Killer into a bonafide critical smash, and now has brought about
Alex Gaudino and
Kelly Rowland's intoxicating new dance track, "What A Feeling."
Gaudino, an Italian DJ, had his first big European hit with the mashup "
Destination Calabria," and his song "
I'm In Love (I Wanna Do It)" topped the Dance Airplay chart late last year. Rowland has had sputtering, minor successes as a solo act since her days in the blockbuster girl group
Destiny's Child, In the last year her occasional, entirely unexpected dabblings into dance music have been far more exciting than her chart performance might suggest, and while every indication from the numerous official and leaked tracks that have surfaced is that something brilliant could be afoot, her long-awaited next album remains as yet unannounced nor given a title or release date (about that...while we're young, please?).
Rowland first dipped her toe into the dance pool on "
When Love Takes Over," a single off
David Guetta's big album
One Love that despite the shortcomings in her performance (I find it ultimately too shouty to bear, and it is a poor representation of Rowland's considerable vocal skills, which I'd even say rival Beyoncé's) it was a hit, in part because Rowland's out-of-character genre switch was such an intriguing surprise in itself. She later justified her unlikely dance cred with the sharper, more polished "
Commander," another Guetta production but this time credited to Rowland as the primary artist. The single's awkward music video, however, exemplified the lingering issue of a singer who had mastered the technique but still was not yet fully at home in the genre.
On "What a Feeling," Kelly Rowland, Dance Artist finally clicks. It's a performance with the studious technicality she'd exhibited on "Commander" but also the feeling and emotional connection she hadn't. As a result, everything that made "Commander' cold and assertive makes "What A Feeling" invigorating and exhilarating. The difference is hard to explain but easy to hear: there's a certain connection with the song, the style, and the genre itself that hasn't been there in Rowland's earlier dance tracks. It's not the change that's noticeable, it's that for the first time you don't notice any signs of any fish out of water in the vicinity.
Unlike
Rihanna's
recent collaboration with Guetta, though, the high points of "What A Feeling" represent equal contributions of singer and producer. For every great Rowland moment - the way she nails the ascending scale of "looove" that leads into each chorus, the great lyric "it's like my favorite star I used to stare at every night came down from the sky," and the "ooh" in fifth-step harmony that follows - Gaudino scores points of his own: the perfect way he brings in the beat halfway through each verse, the bridge that manages to build the momentum even as it provides the requisite moment of rest before the big finish, and a chorus that lives up to the production strength in the verses (this is something RedOne has never quite managed with Gaga and others: his verses are often killer, but his choruses, usually overstuffed messes as if in a misguided attempt to outdo the verses with untidy noise, never hit as they should).
The dance music scene is not populated by celebrity star producers or DJs like pop and hip-hop (Guetta,
Benny Benassi and other bigger names tend to be crossover successes rather than genre giants), which is why dance enjoys much the same underground freedom as indie music, despite being more sonically related to pop. Gaudino may well choose to remain in the more insular and anonymous dance scene, where individual glory and chart hits have less importance than collaborative experimentation. The crossover delight of "What A Feeling" suggests that should he desire instead to pursue the Guetta path, he is certainly equipped with sufficient talent to pull it off as well.
As for Kelly Rowland, the naggling frustration and uncertainty with her album efforts might perhaps be assuaged by the increasingly valid possibility that we might have in Rowland the next
Robyn or
Nicki Minaj, so adept as guest artists that their mere presence on a tune all but guarantees greatness. After all, if anyone understands and appreciates the true artistry and importance of the supporting role, it's Kelly Rowland.
This is all really just my little advance loophole/disclaimer at the front end of a fun new event for the blog inspired by an idea for which I can't claim absolute credit...after all, art imitates art. You may know I occasionally contribute to Cover Me, arguably the top cover songs blog on the web; this year the blog has launched a fun, reader's choice bracket of Beatles covers to coincide with the fabled NCAA March Madness tournament now underway (it's been named "Moptop Madness." Isn't that droll and funny the way "The Beatles" is a droll and funny band name?). It's a fun series that's great for discovering new music, reader participation, debate, and good old-fashioned indie/hipster music snobbery (my two contributions to the bracket were wiped out in the opening round), and as a blog still very much in a buildup phase in terms of readership, I thought something along the same lines might be a fun way to get folks involved and interested in something other than basketball or pointless office pools.
So, I have assembled 64 of the best pop tunes of the last decade and change that deal with the murky swamp that begins the moment the relationship ends, and not a moment sooner (what good does that do?). There are some iconic songs of anger and frustration, others sassy sendoffs to someone deserving to remain in the past; some simple mourning, and a few more optimistic declarations of moving on. For the most part, the bracket placement is the random product of iTunes' shuffle function, with a mere couple of minor adjustments in the interest of keeping this interesting for the long haul. Each day I will post two new matchups, and readers will have 72 hours to log their votes for the one they prefer for whatever reason that might be whatsoever. Those with stronger opinions are encouraged to use the comments to sway voters in their preferred direction!
