Music Times writers share an office area of roughly 45 sq. ft, which makes having face-to-face conversations totally impossible. Junk Mail is these millenials' attempt to discuss and review the week's hottest album releases... without needing to look at each other.
This week: Ryan Book, Caitlin Carter, Joseph Degroot and Carolyn Menyes email (but not dirtily) back and forth about Jason Derulo's Talk Dirty.
CAROLYN: I think the only way to start off this second installment of Junk Mail properly is with a hefty ~JASON DERULO~. (I miss when he started off every track with that...)
But here we are at Talk Dirty. First thing I'm surprised at is for an album that was pieced together from the Tattoos EP and the international album release, this thing flows pretty well. It's totally ridiculous and sort of nasty, but it's at least pretty seamless.
RYAN: Your comment "sort of nasty" kind of sums up the whole vibe of the album for me. Derulo is totally going after that booty...but in the most PG-13 way possible. He leaves no doubt about his desires but when it comes time for bedroom speak (I mean REAL bedroom speak), he brings in guest stars to talk dirty for him...i.e. 2 Chainz on the opening single, Snoop Dogg on "Wiggle," and Tyga on "Bubblegum." Derulo's balladic moments, such as closer "Marry Me," demonstrate a dude who in reality is more comfortable with monogamy than pop music allows, and that's fine by me. Good for him.
Of course, maybe he's really just that soft. "Wanna freak you with the lights on" is the most awkward case of self-censorship so far in 2014.
JOSEPH: There are so many songs about booty on this album. If you're going to write so many songs about the same thing, you should go full speed and do a concept album about it, an Operation: Mindcrime about booty. Otherwise, there should be a maximum of two booty songs per album.
The biggest problem with the music is Derulo himself, which is something you can't really subtract from a Jason Derulo album, unfortunately. His voice is so painfully auto-tuned (not in an interesting, artistic way like Kanye's 808's & Heartbreak), which is something I don't understand, because it seems like his voice would be strong enough on its own. Also, like Ryan said, the lyrics are awkward and PG-13, but there's some genuinely interesting production in a few of the songs. I particularly liked "Kama Sutra," but I wish someone like Justin Timberlake or Robyn was singing over it instead.
CAITLIN: The whole album has feels like a throwback to the early 2000's for me, which might be that whole PG-13 vibe you've all spoken about. Back then (at least in my memory), pop wasn't as explicit as it is today and sexual fantasies were played out mostly through innuendos. It almost feels as if Derulo is holding back on being sexually explicit himself (though as Ryan notes he uses a handful of rappers to do it for him) because of the fact he's in a long-term relationship with Jordin Sparks, who also happens to be featured on the album. I wonder how connected he feels to the sentiments of the single man and finding "booty" in the club since that's (I assume) not where he is in life right now.
CAROLYN: I don't think he's connected to the booty music at all, which is why he hands the heavy work to 2 Chainz or Snoop Dogg and all the other guest rappers on the album. I feel like there are just as many songs about monogamy on Talk Dirty as there are about those club girls. Sure, the title track is the big, degrading hit... but there's also "Marry Me," "Stupid Love" and "Trumpets" which are about nothing but being crazy in love. Even in the middle of some other super sexy song, he talks about wanting to put a ring on his girl.
I'll make the point that even "With The Lights On" feels like a love song in a weird way. He wants to do her with the lights on and film it on his iPhone because he wants to look at her since HE'S SO IN LOVE. This isn't a random hookup... It's not something I'd be down with, but you know, whatever Jordin wants.
This music is kind of explicit, it's frankly talking about sex, but it's not quite as graphic as some of the other hip-hop/pop stuff that's been rolling out in the 2010s, as y'all have said. Does Derulo's demographic skew younger? I feel like he's targeting 13-year-olds or something.
And as for Derulo's voice, Joseph... I honestly doubt he has the chops, hence the heavy, unartistic autotune. I'd be scared to hear him sans effects.
RYAN: BONUS FACT: I went back to check for songwriting credits, and Derulo's legal last name is Jason Desrouleaux.
Now that I think about it, I totally disagree that the flow of this album's tracks work. After two songs, I'm getting all hot and bothered, rolling up my sleeves. The comes "Trumpets," and I'm daydreaming about what a wonderful human being I'm marrying. BUT WAIT. "Bubblegum" throws me back into lust. BUT WAIT. Jordin Sparks emerges for "Vertigo" and I'm awash again.
Look, tossing a ballad into the raunch-pit has always worked for the Guns n' Roses, but they had one "Sweet Child O' Mine" for every five "Rocket Queens." Talk Dirty ends up being awfully bipolar.
But there's a solution: Have sex with the person you're emotionally connected to. People in love still have sex, believe it or not. It's one of the only requirements for being a parent. Derulo hints at this throughout, but why not scrap 2 Chainz on the lead single and talk dirty to someone important to you (yes, people do this!). Babyface and Toni Braxton released a great album in February—Love, Marriage & Divorce—that rides the entire cycle gives you everything you want in R&B with a bonus layer of relevance/resonance.
Derulo's got the potential to be sexy without being ratchet.
JOSEPH: I think we're all giving Derulo too much credit when it comes to his lyrical content. This is a dance-pop album we're dissecting, not Leonard Cohen. These songs were created to be played at parties and to get people moving in the club, and the lyrics are part of that construction. Derulo's singing about sex and whatnot because it's what he and his producers feel is going to make the song a big hit. The same can be said about the ballads on the album. Bruno Mars has had huge hits about the sweet, non-sexual parts of romance, so Jason Derulo figures he'll give it a shot, too. He's probably not as emotionally invested in what he's singing as say, Adele might be.
As for the flow of the album, I think we're also looking at this from an alternative/classic rock/metal standpoint, which is that an album should be constructed as a complete package. Pop albums can flow beautifully (just look at Purple Rain) but they're largely artless commodities to be sold rather than critiqued. The hit single is put at the front because it's most convenient for DJs, and the rest of the tracklisting isn't terribly important, because the target audience isn't generally interested in the album as a complete statement, but rather as a delivery system for a couple of songs they'll like. This isn't meant to be a put down of pop fans, just an interpretation of how they consume music.
CAITLIN: I think your point sort of brings up the issue of whether pop albums are worth dissecting at all. As consumers of the pop product, we'd like to believe that the music we are hearing comes from the heart and soul of the artist, which perhaps it isn't. I would argue that many pop artists, if they didn't write the songs themselves, try chose songs that they connect with so as to feel authentic. So for me, the critique begins at that assumption: that the artist, at a bare minimum, connects with the message of the song. When the listener feels a disconnect between the artist and the song's message, that is generally worth noting when it comes to pop. We can only analyze the machine so much.
CAROLYN: Pop music is TOTALLY worth dissecting. First off, that's our job, so that's honestly even a ridiculous point to argue to me. One genre of music isn't necessarily ~better~ than another, even though some people would like to argue otherwise. Plus, there are fans of pop music who like the genre as a whole and consume the albums as one piece -- I'm one of them -- and they should be given respect alongside their genre of choice.
Trying to compare Derulo to Cohen is like trying to compare apples and nuclear physics -- it's not the same. At all. You have to analyze a record within its own context and genre. Compare Derulo to, like, Chris Brown not a smokey ol' singer-songwriter.
Pop albums can, and should, be looked at as a whole, and I think Talk Dirty is no exception. Sure, it's led by its title single (at least here in the US), but each song builds off its energy. If you're playing this album at a club or party or something, it still needs to flow together well -- and that's something this album does.
Maybe my mistake was implying this album lyrically flows well... it doesn't. Yeah, Derulo can't decide if he wants to bone every girl in Rio or just give Jordin a big ol' sparkler, and that is super confusing. But, both those dichotomies give people something to relate to and hold on to, even if it seems vapid to an indie rock fan (which I also am, by the way).
But I think the musical transitions work well on this album, and for pop, that can be the ruling factor on whether or not an album is "good."
LAST WORDS
RYAN: I may have overplayed how divergent this album came across, as it was truly a step forward from 2011's Future History. I think Derulo could use an I.D. check, as the wide-eyed teenager spars mightily with the bright-eyed romantic during Talk Dirty. Tracks like "Trumpet" and "Marry Me" grabbed me most, but Derulo's got the game to pull off "the other side" of the coin as well.
JOSEPH: Even though Talk Dirty is not at all my thing, a lot of credit has to go to the album's various producers and songwriters for creating songs that are genuinely catchy without falling into standard pop cliches (except the chord progression for "Marry Me," which desperately needs to take a vacation for the next ten years or so). Again, the lyrics aren't poetic or emotionally consistent, but they don't have to be for the album to work.
CAITLIN: I apologize if I turned this discussion into an analysis on pop music. Obviously that's a much bigger (and overdone) conversation. To get back to Derulo and the reason we are emailing back and forth today: It's hard to analyze what exactly he was going for and whether he achieved his vision without speaking to him. What I can say is that the album is fun. I can enjoy the excitement in his depictions of one-night love as well as committed love. I think he's keeping up with his pop peers when it comes to execution and use of featured artists. Do I feel like I understand Derulo more after listening to it? Not really, but that doesn't mean I need to. He's just the vehicle through which these ideas are being disseminated, whether he personally relates to them or not. I'm just here to enjoy the singles.
CAROLYN: I do think I get Jason Derulo more after hearing Talk Dirty -- he's the guy who's trying to distinguish himself from all his pop peers and make a true name for himself in the industry... There's a reason his name is in the beginning of all his songs, people just don't know who Jason Derulo really is, despite the fact that this guy has bona fide Billboard hits.
More than just trying to be famous, he's also super committed and in love. I think that explains the sort of two-sided lyrics to this album. Musically, I think Talk Dirty works a lot better than Derulo's past effort. It's a really fun, sonically pleasing album.
I can easily see myself throwing some of these tunes on at a party. And, like I said, I think the production value and flow of this album is insanely solid. Chalk this one up for a win, in my opinion.
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