Fluxblog Weekly #187: Mariah Carey, Ari Lennox, Gerard Way, Anderson Paak
November 19th, 2018
Time To Cut The Lawn
Mariah Carey “A No No”
Mariah Carey’s new record is stronger and more focused than anything she’s done in a while, largely because she seems like she’s lost interest in chasing trends and just wants to do Mariah Carey Things. “A No No” is the most fun she’s been in ages – energetic, sassy, and utterly ruthless in the way she drags her former manager for the crime of being dumb enough to cross Mariah fucking Carey. She sounds absolutely delighted to spend an entire song being extremely petty, and really chews on catty lines like “Ed Scissorhands, AKA, I cut you off” and “Parlez-vous Francais? I said non / let me translate it, I said NO.” The winding curve of the melody and syncopated beat flatters Carey’s vocal phrasing without having to show off her fading but still highly impressive voice. Even the seemingly random insertion of an old Biggie hook from a Lil Kim song works here – it’s a bit like something she might have had on a “Favorite Disses” vision board and just decided to throw into the song.
Buy it from Amazon.
November 20th, 2018
Alone With You Here
Ari Lennox “No One”
“No One” addresses a very particular 21st century form of loneliness – looking at your phone and wondering why out of 251 contacts, not one of them wants to reach out to you. From the perspective of a depressed extrovert, that can seem like 251 people collectively deciding to reject you when you’re in need. But this isn’t really about 251 people, it’s about just one of them. Ari Lennox sings around that point – she’s trying to distract herself, to vent her frustrations to friends who don’t seem to care, but no matter what she does her thoughts circle back to the one person whose attention she craves the most. Near the end of the song she tries to talk herself into moving on from this fixation, but I don’t believe her. The sound of her voice lacks conviction, and it’s the same bitter melancholy in her tone throughout the song never goes away. If anything, it just gets more intense.
Buy it from Amazon.
November 21st, 2018
The Answer’s Always No
Gerard Way “Getting Down the Germs”
Back when My Chemical Romance was a big deal in the mid-00s, I wouldn’t have thought that Gerard Way and I grew up on a lot of the same stuff. For example, he loved Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol so much that he went on to revive the series as a writer at DC Comics, and he clearly was into the weirder end of mainstream alt-rock enough that he’s moved away from melodramatic emo to embrace that aesthetic in his solo material. He could be out there raking in MCR reunion cash, but instead he’s out there doing his best to bring back ‘90s weirdo vibes. “Getting Down the Germs” is a highly tuneful single with an extremely ‘90s chord progression contrasted with a flute solo that seems to come in out of nowhere but manages to feel just right. His voice is very laid back on this song compared to his often hysterical MCR performances, but I definitely prefer him in this surreal, vaguely sinister mode.
Buy it from Amazon.
November 23rd, 2018
High Up The Wall
Anderson Paak “Smile/Petty”
“Smile/Petty” is structured like a diptych, with two distinct sections that nevertheless overlap in tone and sentiment. The first half is a rather D’Angelo-ish slow jam, and the second flips that soft funk into something more tense and aggressive. The lyrics don’t shift quite as dramatically. The song is always about a relationship that’s gone bad because neither half of the couple trusts the other, and the difference is mainly in how Anderson Paak’s tone goes from mildly aggrieved to outright confrontational. His voice, as always, is outstanding – rough and raspy, and able to shift seamlessly between R&B and rapped modes without ever making you focus much attention on how he switches it up. It all just flows together.
Buy it from Amazon.