I said I was going to try to steer away from Sweden for a post or two...and what country do I go to next? The other one whose artists I keep writing about recently: South Africa. There really are some artists from other countries coming up, but for some reason I'm pretty engaged in those countries as the moment. Anyhow, Wafeeq was on the second season of Idols, which was back in 2003. Despite a lot of gigging around the country (he's opened for a lot of bigger acts, but the one that caught my eye most was Phixx), he just released his debut album this year. As intrigued as I am to hear it, I can't justify paying $40 for one album right now, so I've made do with just buying this song (and, on that front, I think my South African digital music store is now closing itself out to foreign customers).Love Crime (Pop Version)--given my lack of knowledge about R&B (even pop-R&B crossovers), I can't help but think this song was inspired by Thicke's "When I Get You Alone"--it's not as funky or fast and definitely not as good (I'm not generally a fan of Thicke's own material from what I've heard of it, but "When I Get You Alone" is a high standard to hold anyone to), but the similarities (including, most notably, a Beethoven sample) are there. "Love Crime" is more influenced by...um...club or crunk music, I think (I am so out of my league here; it's definitely not really crunk, but I'm not sure what the proper term for club-friendly R&B is, since just saying "club music" will probably make most people think of dance). I know I've said it's R&B several times, but really, this is pretty pop, even if dressed up in R&B trappings, and I think that has something to do with Wafeeq's voice. (This is the pop version, which cuts out the rapping the original has.)
To buy Wafeeq's debut album, Hit 'n Go, which sounds pretty diverse, go here (physical).
Next up: something definitely pop from Denmark.
2 comments:
is south africa the new sweden?? I have a friend from there who is very attractive as a lot of my swedish friends are. I don't think i would pay $40 (which is granted only £20) for his album, but now you have elevated him to fame, perhaps a few more free downloads will pop up here and there :P The power of poppostergirl - the human google :)
Oh, no, I don't think anyone could replace Sweden! ;) Lots of reasons, but one of the most important is that the Swedish artists I love are actually (usually) popular in Sweden, while the South African artists I've written about aren't exactly having hits after hit. Ooo at friends from different countries--I need to make some! :)
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