Next: a sexxy song with an even sexxxier video…
[Video][Website]
[4.22]
Madeleine Lee: The video is such a cartoon (down to its textbook illustration of “what do white women signify in Korean pop videos?”) that I’d rather not expend half as much energy being provoked as it expends trying to provoke me. And anyway, if I’m putting off the post-coital shower, it’s only because I’m too lazy to get up. From the sounds of it, everyone involved in this song feels similarly.
[5]
Katherine St Asaph: Louche nothings know no borders. Neither does sexploitation.
[3]
Anthony Easton: The breathless falsetto is pretty much the classic sign of being in control while appearing to lose control, but this does it better than most. That he combines it with a talk sung portion at a slightly orthogonal angle to the rest of the text adds texture to a song that might seem clichéd otherwise.
[4]
Patrick St. Michel: Smooth and sweet pillow talk turned into a song, but lacking anything of interest beyond that.
[5]
Alfred Soto: While the verses try for a Slim Shady-indebted grit, the bridge and chorus are LFO “Summer Girls” goodness, especially when Gary unveils a falsetto as impressive as his ads. The shimmering minor key organ is a plus.
[7]
Iain Mew: The song treads the line between sweet (the falsetto bits) and off-puttingly sleazy, with the lyrics mostly aligning. The video pushes it decisively to the latter.
[4]
Brad Shoup: The tempo is crazy fast — the endless whip-pan keys don’t help — kinda like new-model Robin Thicke with more facility in and around the falsetto. For real, his work in the higher range is fabulous. I get why they wrote a song around it.
[6]
Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: Starts out sounding like an update of London’s gaming-arcade grime, meshed with the type of bubblegum R&B that merged into bubblegum garage at the start of the Noughties. Then Gary (of all the Pokemon-inspired rap names, Ash’s rival is not the best choice) desiccates the tone with hurdy-gurdy syllable wrenching, a complete misreading of his own song. Unless he’s doing this type of smooth-curdling on purpose. In which case: dick move, Gary.
[4]
Megan Harrington: “When you ask how it was, I say it was awesome, awesome, awesome!” It’s so great to be a high schooler. Gary is actually 35 and has an endorsement deal with Doritos, details which mesh perfectly with the cool ranch dust and desperation of “Shower Later.” The music video is absolutely foul – oral sex innuendo staged on a teeter-totter, women unironically operating jackhammers, and I can’t even begin to speculate on the symbolism of the floating shoes – but it’s a perfect match for the pre-frat song. Apparently you’re supposed to be 19 or older to partake in Gary’s art, but I can’t believe anyone who passed their senior year would care.
[0]