As I mentioned before, it functions as the song’s bridge–a break from the verse-chorus repetition–but thematically, it goes beyond that. The utterly bizarre, out of place, and dare I say, ludicrous Ludacris rap interlude.
Um, it was the first Google Image Search result for "Justin Bieber Ludacris."Īnd that brings us to the rap. If you can think of a way it could have worked, let me know in the comments. I couldn’t think of a way to translate the exacting precisison of the synth with an instrument that wouldn’t have been out of place in the punk context. Like those high “ooh”s and “noo”s, this part of the music helps push this song from merely competent to notable enough to become a hit. I did, however, choose to leave out one crucial part of the sound: the synth countermelody that you hear in the chorus. I wasn’t going to change it–part of the idea of The “Baby” Project is to stay as close to the original as possible–but if I were trying to just make a good punk song, rather than a faithful punk reinterpretation of this song, then I probably wouldn’t have thought to do such a thing with the melody. Maybe it’s just my vocal delivery, but I think those high interjections sound out of place in the punk version. It’s actually kind of clever in the way it accents the emotion with the first “ooh,” then pushes it even higher with the second “noo.” This, to me, is one of the defining charactersics of “Baby” and what makes it stand out enough for it to be a monster hit. Melody-wise, it’s not quite as natural of a transition, particularly in the chorus, when the high “ooh”s and “noo”s punctuate the lower “baby, baby, baby”s in a way that you’d rarely find in punk. The Ramones famously recycled the same 3 or 4 chords across over a dozen studio albums. This simplicity is one of the main reasons why I chose punk as the first genre in which to recast “Baby.” It’s a genre that’s practically defined by its lack of harmonic complexity. "Blitzkrieg Bieber Bop" should be a song. It’s the complete opposite of something like a Radiohead song which, is about as harmonically adventurous you can get without leaving the realm of “popular music.” It just plows relentlessly along, those same 4 familiar chords. Its harmonic structure in particular lends itself very well to cross-genre export, as it’s brain dead simple: I-vi-IV-V, or for those who aren’t versed in music theory, the same chord progression that powers countless hit pop songs, from “ Unchained Melody” to “ Total Eclipse of the Heart.” The song does not deviate from it at all unlike most other pop songs, there’s no bridge section to keep it from getting too monotonous (the rap accomplishes that function, but we’ll come back to that later). Part of the idea behind “The ‘Baby’ Project” is to strip these elements away and cast the same musical raw materials (melody, harmony, and rhythm) into a completely new setting to better understand the sonic makeup of the original. The original “Baby” is a slick, highly produced dance pop song with Autotuned vocals, drum machine beats, and shimmering synthesizers. Now that you’ve survived the sonic one-two-three punch of Justin Bieber, Ludacris, and me doing my best Rancid/Ramones/Green Day impression, let’s explore what’s going on here. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to “The ‘Baby’ Project.” I’m going to cover this song in as many genres as possible. I thought about writing a fairly extensive piece of analysis that looked closely at both the music and lyrics, but I came up with a more interesting way of subjecting this song to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn’t deserve: In other words, it’s perfect for Overthinking. Bieber’s vocal delivery, though competent, is nothing to write home about. The Ludacris rap interlude comes way, waaaay out of left field. On the surface, it’s a crushingly generic pop song, both musically and lyrically. I don’t blame those who have that reaction. Those who fall into the latter camp often say they can’t understand the appeal of this song and its immense popularity. It elicits shrieks of joy from 14 year-old girls and groans from, well, most other people. The song “Baby” by Justin Bieber is, to say the least, polarizing.
0 kommentar(er)
