Track Review ⊙ Daily Ops Home
Mariah Carey f/ Pharrell & Snoop :: "Say Somethin'"From Emancipation Of Mimi (Island; 2006)
But apparently Foreal has an inferiority complex, or something, giving himself a turgid sludgefest (running out of words for boring) like “Number 1” and saving this beat for his new boo, according to, uh, Spin magazine, or whoever the fuck decides this shit. Remarkably, Pharrell recedes almost completely on this track, appearing as a ghostly whisper beneath Mariah’s histrionic chorus and stopping by to canoodle onscreen. As they romp through Paris, Mariah alternately coos, bellows and teases out the song’s title like a mantra. To her credit, she manages to find a few dozen vocal flourishes within the song’s low-to-the-ground groove. I’m not sure what this billionaire pop star has been emancipated from, but tracks like this give her claims of liberation a bit of intangible veracity. The track ain’t great, and it lacks a hook, but at least the beat contains a discernible melody, and a few tinny drumrolls supply some surprisingly funky breaks.
Snoop sounds better, too, than Ye on “Number 1,” wisely backing up and delivering his marble-mouthed reassurances with an almost subconscious delivery. In the video, he appears to be present mostly to admire Ms. Carey’s splayed-out physique, and his track-ending verse strives for nothing more than to convey an affection respect toward the Neptunes’ beat. Dude sounds like Snoop, which is what it is, but he also correctly dubs himself Big Bow Wow, which is kinda funny. It’s inoffensive fluff, if a bit underwhelming, and at this point I find a Pharrell/Mariah pairing (quoth Us Weekly: “Phariah”) harmless, but if he lets her attach her career to his (like so much Snoop before her), disaster could result. Snoop’s proven himself a malleable enough sidekick, sidling along with the ‘Tunes and embellishing their good grooves a bit, but imagine what would happen if Mariah got her fluttery fingers near Hell Hath No Fury. (Shudder.) Let’s move on.
Clayton Purdom :: 2 June 2006 |
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