Gimme More
Britney Spears
Live Performance at VMAs

This is the first ever performance review for LMSP, but it only makes sense to expand in this new direction when pop is all about the sound and performance.

There is one problem, and only one problem, with Britney's VMA performance: commitment. Britney is not committed to the performance art--and apparently neither was her hair stylist as her flat, even length hair said over 30 and preggers with more than a hint of a stripper's apathy. Everything, from her robotic body movements to her lack of facial expression said that Britney was not back. She had no plans on playing the role of seductress anymore. She may have wanted to be a slave 4 U, but that time has come and gone, and now she doesn't really want more.

When I watched the clip, I felt like she was outdone by her backup dancers, which would have had a great show without Britney in the middle. There's Britney's pretend cover her mouth giggle, when it's clear she's not giggling. There's 50 Cent's face of confusion and Rihanna's orgasm by way of shadenfreude in the front row. You know who would have been great for this song? PCD.

Final Note
HATE

Umbrella
Marie Digby
Lyrics

Anticipation One of you loyal readers sent me this article about the manufactured-ness of pop, to which I say who cares. Pop is all about being fun to listen to, no matter how you find out about it or how good the artist is. It should be fun, catchy, and memorable. With that said, I decided to take on the artist, Marie Digby, who is a blatant liar about her climb to fame. But she does something that perhaps even she did not intend: Digby answers the Rihanna question.

The song has kind of had a life of its own, getting radio play and, where I heard it first, on an episode of The Hills, which really boosted its popularity. The artist also has history: she attended UC Berkeley for a year and even had a story in the Daily Cal for her singing ability at the time.
Vocals More sincere than Rihanna, the singing actually makes this song sound like it's about friendship and not electronic rain or something. But, c'mon, it's not like Digby's that much more talented than robotic Rihanna.
Music It's acoustic guitar. That's it.
Verses I like the verses understatedness, but the chorus is a much stronger performance.
Chorus Well sung, but boring with only acoustic guitar behind.
Hook BECAUSE...when the sun shines
Breakdown Wait, where's Jay-Z on this version?
Lyrics Whoa! It's a song!
Hit Potential It has a life of its own, although it's living off the original. Popular, but not a hit.
Final Note
LOVE

Don't Stop the Music
Rihanna
Lyrics

Anticipation After reading Pitchfork's review of Rihanna's latest album, Good Girl Gone Bad, I was anxious to hear more. I was also interested to see if Rihanna had more than Umbrella up her sleeve and if the other singles would leave me with the same question: What would this sound like if anybody but Rihanna had done it?
Vocals In a rather chant-like tone, Rihanna gets this song out on the beat. Production effects make it sound like she was carrying the note, but it's really just echo.
Music Sharp beats. I wish the beat that starts the song were used more, especially at the end. There's an MJ sample, particularly well used in the breakdown. It has a mashup-like quality.
Verses To steal a word, "robotic". Verses are toned down compared to the rest of the song, but still provide enough to dance out to.
Chorus Starts with a powerful crescendo of beat, sample, and saturated vocals. Rihanna could be saying anything to this beat-sample combo.
Hook While you can certainly sing-along, the song's a little flat.
Breakdown The MJ sample makes you wonder why the King of Pop was never making dance tracks.
Lyrics It's unfortunate that the more fun lyrics are in the verses where they're not highlighted and the chorus has rather dull ones. Every Rihanna song seems to fit "naughty" in someplace, as does this one.
Hit Potential I smell big success, but it won't reach the heights of Umbrella unfortunately.
Final Note
LOVE