I'm Not A Critic Anymore: FourFiveSeconds

Hello everyone, this is a series in which I will deviate from the formalities of my typical format, and give a more down to earth look on a very specific topic. I realize that this still sounds overly formal, but regardless, let’s move on to the topic at hand.

FourFiveSeconds was a single collaboration between the three music heavy weights, Sir Paul McCartney, Kanye West and Rihanna. It got rave reviews from every critic under the sun. With many people stating how wonderful the song is: ‘wonderful just wonderful!’ ‘Ooh my Mr. Album Man, is the song fantastic?’ ‘Us, the generally unaware audience, thought it was great!’

Well, if you can read through my cynical overly sarcastic text tone, then no; in my opinion it’s not.

First off, the acoustic bare bones sound is an idea I am okay with, on paper that is. It does have an older sound to it, which I do like. However it leaves far too many random awkward pauses for my liking. So instead of having a charming stripped away feel, you have a bizarrely sounding, unappealing, soul/folk song with far too little quality portions to keep you coming back.

Don't get me wrong, parts of the chorus sound great and are catchy, but they end abruptly and go back to the awkward cringe fest that is the rest of the song.

I feel like the lyrical content should be mentioned next, as with a song with this style usually puts all the emphasis on the lyrics. However,  the lyrics in this song are poor; very poor. There is no deeper meaning,  it  has no interesting thing look deeper into. If you are good at picking up the lyrics while listening to a song (or if you just google them), then you will quickly realize the meaning to this song.

It is basically saying that they are tired of normal life and being taken advantage of. There is no kind of hidden meaning or deeper thought or discussion. The message is just laid out for all to see. And that, my friends, KILLS a song of this nature. A song that has no other real draw to it, with simplistic instrumentation, the lyrics are crucial for any possible intrigue within a song. Not only is there nothing interesting in the lyrics, but they themselves are poorly written and feel completely out of place in the song, mostly due to the genre.

I feel like one of the main reasons people think that the lyrics are deeper than they really are has something to do with the obvious strength in the vocals by Kanye and Rihanna (I will get to Paul in a minute),  and the soul driven feel of their vocals. Especially Rihanna. They both give very strong performances here, but Kanye feels like he is out of his element here. Rihanna's strong vocals cover up the lyrics from the everyday listener, and the passion filled drive in her voice further adds to this fact.

Paul McCartney is not utilized at all in this song, and that is a HUGE wasted opportunity. Sure he plays guitar, but he can do so much more than that. He is not given a single verse to himself, or even a bit of a chorus. Sure, he harmonizes with Rihanna and Kanye here and there, but his voice is completely drowned out by them. That is a huge waste of his talent as a singer. He could have added a style and sound to the song that would have been a good contrast from Kanye's or Rihanna's, and added to the entirety of the song as a whole

By the way, let’s just not mention the fact that a significant portion of listeners didn't even know who Paul McCartney was.     

In all honesty though, I cannot put into words the contempt I feel for this song, mainly for mistreating a legend like this. And it stings even more now, that we are starting to lose some of the best songwriters/singers in history. BUT SERIOUSLY WHY WOULD YOU NOT UTILIZE PAUL MCCARTNEY HE HAS SIR IN HIS NAME.

He has virtually no role in the song, and is there for the sole reason of selling copies, “Hello I am Paul McCartney, buy this song on itunes.“

That really upsets me, when you have such a fantastic singer, and just have him play acoustic guitar in the background.

What a huge insult.

In conclusion, this song is bad. It’s bad because it’s awkward, boring, and abuses Sir Paul McCartney. Pooooop on this song all over. Seriously.