It’s ever so KABOOMish

Something ‘Bout Love has officially dropped—what better time to blither on and onnnnn about the awesomeage of David and Something ‘Bout Love. (Again. heh)

It’s been a loooong time since I gave anything even vaguely techno-lectro-bot dance-clubby-sounding even a nanosecond’s worth of my attention. To me that genre has always felt simultaneously D.O.A. and way too in my face. No heart. No soul. Nothin’ but noisy, meaningless, over-produced, canned, empty calories for me. But THEN David dishes it out and does so in the only flavor he serves up: DEEE-LUXE, with extra, vitamin-enriched SPRINKLES and a big honkin’ DOLLOP of whipped cream.

When I first heard SBL the *spazz* quotient immediately flew clean off the METER for me. I was flung into immediate and ongoing emergency spazz mode. *TILT*TILT*TILT* Yes, of course I hear the snycopated lectro-techno canned dance-clubby vibe with the (i gotta say, prit-tee judiciously applied, imo) autotune, even though he certainly could’ve delivered this little ditty just as magnificently (no, moooaar magnificently) without it,  and I’m the first to confess that historically that vibe has never been my thang (still isn’t)… STILL, SBL instantaneously registered in my mind as a WHOA! Show’em how it’s done KA-BOOOM-ey sorta thing. (: And that earworm took up permanent residence immediately.

I have to wonder if David’s worried about what we’ll take away from this song.  I do know he did (almost dismissively) refer to it as (just?) a “summer fun” kinda thing, and has said publicly that autotune is not for him (got that right, buddy…dear Jive, no need for gratuitous synthesizing with the Archulator. You did better this time, but do like I do…Trust The Archulator) and he did make sure we heard him say that it is not representative of the overall vibe his upcoming album Other Side of Down will have —and while I’m glad it’s not indicative of the overall direction he’s taking with his sophomore album, YOU KNOW WHAT? It is just so STINKIN’ much FUN! It definitely screams SUMMER HIT to me. OK, David, we’re on the same page in this way: You say summer fun, I say summer fun. It is moz def summer fun. I can only guess that this mildly apologetic note I seem to detect (maybe it’s just me) may be because the choice to make SBL the summer single was a compromise to appease “the suits.” Maybe there was something else he’d rather have released as a single. (Maybe that’s partly what performing Parachutes and Airplanes and Not A Very Good Liar and If I Could Only Be, live, was all about. Maybe. And I love those songs. R.E.A.L.L.Y…L.O.V.E…T.H.E.M.) Or maybe he was a little bit worried that some of his fans would think this is the new him if SBL was the chosen single and they would drop him. (Oh, David, honey, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Trust me.)

I just hafta say, Something ‘Bout Love is one massive LOVEBOATLOAD of Summer Fun, AND I can already tell it’ll definitely catch the attention of a measurable chunk of music consumers out there who up til now were NOT paying attention. BUT THEY ARE NOW :) (and that is probably precisely why it was selected as the summer single release.)  Just random reactions I’ve caught wind of in response to the early radio play it has already received bears this out.  And — because it’s David — woven right into the fabric of SBL’s lectro-boppy-poppy heart it is steeped in his ever present message of hope and encouragement and optimism: Despite all the ups and downs of love…the blaming yourself… the world falling down like rain…you gotta move on… live and let live… don’t give up…don’t lose hope… take your time… you gotta believe… and hang on HANG ONNNN for the ride of your liiiiiife … bcz it’s worth it…bcz it’s gonna be alright…bcz ultimately something bout LOVE sets you freeeee. And it’s all wrapped up in a vehicle bursting with irrepressible, youthful optimism and a big fat “It’s SUMMER, DANGIT, and I DARE you not to dance” danciness and an even BIGGER  just-TRY-not-to-blast-this-baby-from-your-car-radio-full-volume-with-all-the-windows-down-when-you’re-cruisin’ -of-a-summer’s-eve on your way to havin’ your own summer  fun.

AND OF COURSE—it is, for moi, also irrevocably linked with that dang crisp white v-neck tee and them dang red britches and WAY-too-good HAIR and GUH that FACE… and finished off with hints of amusement park in the background—all now permanently SEARED onto my brain cell. (I am forevah beholden to that lovely random fan at Coney Island.)

Now, for all we know the official video will play up the hurt and *emo*drama* of young love and all the “fun” amusement park squences will be looking back to times past… a lost love (a la ALTNOY). No idea. But (thanks to to that dang britches photo and the brilliance that is TOfan) I have MY OWN VIDEO already playin’ in my head …and I’m stickin’ TO it. (If I lurve the real vid, well then I’ll have two vids, now won’t I. Works for meeee. :p)

Speaking of which…I remember spazzin’ big time when I first heard Works For Me. (I still spazz so bad over that song I’m surprised I’m even still ALIVE.) FOR ME it was like witnessing David step up, easily-breezily, with a big ole steel spike & sledge hammer in tow and casually STAKING HIS CLAIM on SOULFUL POP TURF, as in “I think I like it here and I think I’ll STAY awhile…IF. YOU. DON’T. MIND.” It is HIS song, HIS story, HIS GUH-ROOVE-I-TUDE (oh baby) and HIS RIGHTFUL territory thanyouverymuch. I won’t even START re: how the “industry” is serving up so much I-DON’T-EVEN-KNOW schtuffffz and calling it “R’n’B”. Psh. Bull Hockey. For me, David showed ’em how it’s done. OMG I get *wobbly* just thinkin’ about it.

But I digress…

With SBL I get a similar (but not the same) feeling. It’s like he ambles into the ring (I’m talkin’bout that ring where the Big Pop Dogs spar) and says somewhat modestly “You mean something like this?” and then *BAM!* slaps down the Something ‘Bout Love monster and leaves everybody DYING A HAPPY DEATH. Even those who don’t wanna like a lectro-bot ditty are not safe. He manages to infuse it with everything that’s important to HIM (both in content and style,) delivers it seemingly effortlessly with all the stinkin’ awesomage of his ingrained musical intelligence and chops, and yet hangs strictly within the confines of what I consider a specific (and for me usually inadequate) pop musical genre. It’s as if David’s just delivering a friendly tip’o’the’hat to a genre that so many DO love and associate so much fun with in their own lives (himself included, no doubt)… and then meanders off (in search of a more Beautiful Distraction, perhaps?) leaving a trail of happy corpses in his wake. (: Verdict: HOME RRRRRRRRUNNNN! (and, hey, nice hair… but, yo, watch it with the Archu_gaze, buddy. People. could. get. HURT.)

Oh, one more thing, since I can blibberblabber and blither on and onnnnnnn here at the planet …

I find this so… just plain crazy::  Something ‘Bout Love is nothing if not YOUNG. UBER YOUNG (in the BEST of possible ways). It is SUMMERY. It is DANCEY. It is BOPPY.  Am I wrong? (Answer: NO! :p)

And yet I’ve seen so many comments indicating that this song shows how David’s “all grown up.”

Whaaaaaaa????

(yeah, you’n’me, both, buddy)

Sorry, but David has shown massive musical and personal maturity for literally YEARS now. What David has done with Something ‘Bout Love is THIS (once AGAIN) :  SHOWN ‘EM HOW IT’S DONE. KABOOM!! Behold The Archulator!! Woot!

okdone.