Friday, June 25, 2004

Did he or didn't he?

SF-J says Usher cheats on his girlfriend in "Yeah!":

The lyrics are about a guy meeting a girl in a club and cheating on his girlfriend

There's probably a back-story I'm not fully aware of, but it seems to me that Usher arrives at the club with his friends, firmly intent on getting some on-the-side action, a girl starts throwing herself at him, Usher is strongly tempted but finds redemption on the dancefloor (and the wherewithal to remain stoic). In the video, he appears to go home and be dragged into the bedroom by his girlfriend. Of course, all of this is shrouded in ambiguity and ellipses, so who knows?

Lil Jon urges Usher on by yelling “O.K.!” and “Yeah!” and not much else.

But how can you ignore his enthusiastic Let's go! right after Usher sings She's going to my head now/Got me thinking that it might be a good idea to take her with me/(pause)She's ready to leave. But our hero is conflicted: I gotta keep it real now...But that just ain't me. Then again, right after that line there's a big Hey! that sounds like a "yeah, right." All this to say that the commenting Lil' Jon is doing in the background is very cool and enriches the narrative.

the only sign that the chorus has arrived is a sour little flute sound bumping leisurely down to land on a blue note

I just love how the flute pops in out of the blue and strolls through the chorus without a care in the world.

Is it just me, or is Ludacris getting less funny by the day?