Thicke: Slicke or Dicke?

finally got around to hearing non-singles on this album, so great!

the album is terrible and thicke is maybe the smarmiest singer ever and that one song w/ the teacher/pupil metaphor is really creepy

and i LIKE about...three? four? of his songs

Come on, that album is pretty great, although 'Wanna U You Girl' is a bit misleading. I see him as some kind of male Sade for the 00's.

yeah it's got that same v enticing yuppie decadence, but it's totally spoilt by...his self-awareness maybe? he comes off like a performing seal sometimes. and when he doesn't it's bizarrely anonymous and flat! 'cocaine' and 'got 2 be down' are the two i'm actually feeling.

also really hating most of the lyrics. do not need to hear any more boys complaining that no one understands them because they're too complicated maaaaan.

You missed one of the best songs on the album, "Would That Make U Love Me"

I really, really wish that falsetto singers who aren't full-on belters like Phillip Bailey would stop performing live because all it does is make them sound weak and airy.

I like the single, but on the BET Awards he did not sound that strong, and looked goofy with his thin little moustache and preppy vest sweater over tie plus old adidas sneakers look. His dancing and Jackie Wilson/James Brown falling to a knee moves were not that smoothly executed either.

his lyrics are about as good as timberlake.

also his voice is kinda weak live. saw him at the jazz cafe a while back. the girls ate it up cos of that song everyone loves (i like it too) but other than that, the albums kinda soporific.

(My previous post was prompted by his BET performance, which was pretty much the definition of "weaksauce".)

his album sounds convincing to me, and i don't get any fakeness from it. 'sade of the 00s' is overstating it maybe but its a similar vibe -

omg @ his wife:
http://images.askmen.com/galleries/celeb-profiles-actress/paula-patton/pictures/paula-patton-picture-1.jpg

have u been listening to anything in this vein recently dan? can you think of someone doing a similar vibe now that you think sings better?

i'm not arguing, just wondering!

It beats Pharell, in any case.

yeah i don't think he's anything but himself; trouble with that being dude is revolting. and double yeah, if he didnt annoy me enough already he gets to go home to paula patton?! what the shit.

bearing in mind also that that pic up there is probly the worst i've ever seen of her

It beats Pharell, in any case.

The sound of a baby wailing in pain because its legs have been pulled off by cougars beats Pharell; come on now.

have u been listening to anything in this vein recently dan? can you think of someone doing a similar vibe now that you think sings better?

Justin Timberlake, actually!

"When I get You Alone" is amazing, wtf is wrong with you people?

Apocalypse in five...four...three...

(xp)

I'm kinda in the middle on this dude, I get the feeling I'd like most of the songs on his album (his newer one) taken out of context, but listening to it one stretch is a giant fucking chore.

timberlake is totally different! i'm being more specific that 'white dude doing soul,' like i can't actually imagine inviting a girl over and then putting on timberlake, its too omnipresent and obvious

there are some garbage songs on this album for sure, but there are some great ones also and when i listened to it yesterday the quality/crap ratio was pretty favorable

(and timberlake being different goes beyond timberlake being popular ... he's also much less about sexytime babymaking music or whatever)

'i need love' = foxxy

the closest i've been listening to lately would be DWELE but obviously his stuff has a v. different production aesthetic, vibe-wise tho v. similar

if i was a girl and a dude invited me over and put on this album i'd run away as fast as i could, i mean how can you even listen to 'teach u a lesson' without being really creeped out? it's vile!

Nah, i've been playing this album pretty often at dinner parties (hate me now) and it's goen down pretty well. The two are pretty different. Thicke has a whole ballroom / light latin feel.

Yeah, I've noticed his penchant for bossa rhythms.

his first album is totally underrated. i think i'm the only person i've ever heard of who liked it.

if i was a girl and a dude invited me over and put on this album i'd run away as fast as i could, i mean how can you even listen to 'teach u a lesson' without being really creeped out? it's vile!

-- lex pretend, Thursday, June 28, 2007 3:29 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

almost every guy i talk to couldn't care less, but ladies love this

i dont know about that particular song tho, i'd have to listen again

'i need love' is the office fav

(My previous post was prompted by his BET performance, which was pretty much the definition of "weaksauce".)

-- HI DERE, Thursday, June 28, 2007 1:23 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

also his voice is kinda weak live. saw him at the jazz cafe a while back. the girls ate it up cos of that song everyone loves (i like it too) but other than that, the albums kinda soporific.

-- titchyschneiderMk2, Thursday, June 28, 2007 1:18 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Have you guys not seen the performance of "Shooter" on the Tonight Show? He kicked asssss! Lil Wayne, too! They were unstoppable.

I found it

that song stands out in a bad way on the album

yeah I've softened on my "Shooter" hate slightly but it's still horrible in the context of Tha Carter II (unless you mean on the Thicke album).

Hearing "Oh Shooter" (not "Shooter") makes me really want to check out his first album. I really don't get why people love the Wayned "Shooter" so much. They took what was already a great track and in the most artless way imaginable added Lil Wayne dropping Diddygrunts and a verse about how homosexuals are keeping him off radio. Once I heard the original I felt no desire to go back.

hah i meant horrible in the context of the thicke album, i thought it worked well in the carter ii where he was doing beats that were kind of all over the place from 'receipt' to 'fireman' or whatever (although i don't really need to hear it again or anything)

i hadn't heard the original when i heard the wayne version and i also love that donna summer/digital underground/soulja slim bassline

i dont like hearing lil wayne in an otherwise graceful/classy candlelight romance context

Wayne sounds fine on "All Night Long."

If Wayne's verse didn't already confuse what "Shooter" was about, the video adds fucking wacky neighbor hijinks. There's a reason this flopped.

i think i like the song pharrell wrote best. its the most fun and funky in any case.

what song did pharrell write?

'teach u a lesson' is weird. Lyrics are kind of :-/ :-/ :-/

i'm down with the production aesthetic tho, and the vocals are cool, he knows how to not push his voice to hard, let it just sort of sit there

but yeah lyrics on that one are pretty wack

i agree that wayne is much better on 'all night long,' its like a standard R&B guest verse! less corny wayne showboating

lol posting about love songs alone on a fri night :(

hah i just had a holy shit moment when i realized that i had totally seen the video for his first single back in the day and been sorta o_O about it, totally didn't realize it was the same dude! what a shitty haircut!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nNg0ReHeTiM

Robin Thicke has been around for quite a while (he was writing kinda big pop songs in the 90s)

And "Shooter" haters are ridiculously wrong! It's insane and awesome...my fav. single of last year!

ok lex jr.

/ethan jr.

Old Dolph ‏@alshipley 2h2 hours ago

Pharrell issues statement: "Haven't they heard me sing? I'm clearly ripping off Curtis Mayfield, it's his family that...uh don't print this"
3 retweets 10 favorites

I think the thing about all these panic-type Matos/Wolk "chilling precedent" pieces that rubs me the wrong way is that, taken to their logical conclusion, they seem to suggest that musicians don't actually own what they create. I love sampling and homage as much as the next listener. And as a musician myself, I love it even more as I would venture to say every interesting thing I've ever done has its roots in me massacring an imitation of something else.

But at the same time, I find it kind of odd to be arguing that this stuff is essentially in the public domain. It's not. "Rappers' Delight" is one example of a song that, quite simply, wouldn't exist without what Chic did. Same for "Blurred Lines," however much a departure the actual song is from the inspiration. And the Bomb Squad/ Dust Bros. ethos. The idea that the creators should owe something more than "a debt of gratitude" doesn't seem far fetched to me.

One thing worth noting that I didn't know until a few years ago is that advertising regularly addresses the issue of feel and style. If you want to do a car ad in the style of Randy Newman or Leon Redbone, you pay a fee. It isn't as much as using an actual song, but it is something.

None of this is to say that there shouldn't be some updating for the 21st-century. But I would also argue that the Dre examples upthread demonstrate once again how limitations really do breed creativity. And at the end of the day, when you think about how awful the industry has been to the actual creators of music product, rules that require artists to be paid for the commercial usage of their appropriation isn't something I think we want to be backing away from.

If you want to do a car ad in the style of Randy Newman or Leon Redbone, you pay a fee. It isn't as much as using an actual song, but it is something.

iirc, Carlos Santana's lawsuit in 1990 set the precedent/terms for this:
http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1990/Guitarist-Carlos-Santana-Sues-Miller-Beer-Over-Commercial/id-d2d871dcb18ffed5fe6403a1d2e7cb3c

tom waits sued frito-lay for the same thing, right? that was in '88

But advertising is different because a sound-a-like tricks people into thinking they're hearing the original artist, and therefore that the artist endorses ad syncs and that product in particular. No artist name is attached. Waits sued Frito-Lay for "voice misappropriation and false endorsement". Neither claim applies in the Blurred Lines case.

but people might think Marvin Gaye had questionable ideas about sex!

Objection sustained

Old Dolph ‏@alshipley 2h2 hours ago

Pharrell issues statement: "Haven't they heard me sing? I'm clearly ripping off Curtis Mayfield, it's his family that...uh don't print this"
3 retweets 10 favorites

― dow, Friday, March 13, 2015 7:25 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol this was retweeted yesterday by Kirk Mayfield, son of Curtis ;_;

Their's only one Curtis Mayfield funny how someone will try to be him and want to make a living off his hard wrk! #Fupayme #Mayfieldforever

Funny.

is ILM talking about this anywhere else:

http://defamer.gawker.com/kelly-clarksons-new-song-sounds-just-like-jimmy-eat-wor-1679262619

this is hilarious

its insane

it was definitely brought up in a kelly clarkson thread

There’s a thing that Marcel Proust referred to as supersaturation. When the past, present, and future all become very clear and high-definition and surround-sound in one moment. My supersaturation came right after I performed on the BET Awards [in June 2014]. I dedicated the performance [of the song “Forever Love”] to my ex. And I came home, and my best friend of 20 years, Craig Crawford, said, “I saw your BET performance.” And I said: “Oh yeah! What did you think?” You know — excited. And he goes: “I gotta be honest with you, buddy. You’re kind of playing yourself. You look like a sucker.” And it hit me that I’d lost my perspective. What I thought was romantic was just embarrassing. And he said, “You should just go away for a while.” So I shut everything down. I took some time off to be with my son, and to be with my family and close friends. And the more time I took off, the more everything became clear.

Going Thicke

so...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CWksoNpXsU

Genericke but fine.

nicki verse lmao

but this song is a jam

Incredible longread about how cursed this song was

There was a lengthy discussion in the “Pfork sux” thread

really good article, one interestingly enough that seems to have mirrored the discussion of the song itself on ILX as it progressed over time (though conversation on it dried it after the trial mostly)