Saturday, May 17, 2008

Can't explain my position, or the condition I'm in

Hey hey, all the way
Dee-jay, let it play

Enrique Iglesias is trying to kill me.



After Insomniac's underperformance in some quarters and the less-than-thrilling "Dónde están corazón," I thought we might have lost Enrique the fun popstar for good. I should never have doubted him.

Last year's "Do You Know (The Ping Pong Song)" nearly gave me a heart attack with its cuteness, its unashamed poppiness, and its perfection--how on earth am I supposed to cope with a song like this newly leaked one, taken from the upcoming re-edition of Insomniac (coming out in a few days in France and I presume later in the rest of the world)? Imagine if crunk were cute; it might sound a little something like this--these are cute synths, but sharp ones too, ones with bite. Though I thought "Push" from Insomniac was fine (I didn't hate it like so many people did), writer and producer Steve Morales, who also gave us Enrique songs like "Escape" and "Don't Turn Off The Lights," must have realized that that might have been pushing Enrique a little too far into urban territory, so he's kept up his use of those sharp synth pulses but instead put them into the service of a much poppier song, a fun upbeat semi-danceable one with a much more typical Enrique vocal melody over the top. Enrique's voice has always lent itself to intimate moments, but he's done more than a few songs that you can imagine blaring out in a stadium (with loads of people singing along), and this new track allows for at least a few moments with a feeling like that, particularly the movie-theater-testing-sound-system electronic effects at the beginning, which are accompanied by synth beeps which return for the chorus and a shout from Enrique.

This new song is an example of great crisp (and cute!) production at work, sharp, every little detail in place (it's so tempting to go through and list off all the elements I love), no time for anything that won't further the song to the utmost but resulting in something that still feels spontaneous, fun. Like "Do You Know," it's not a song I expect most people to love as much as me, but also like "Do You Know," it's a song that does everything right to get me falling head over heels in love.

The French re-edition of Enrique Iglesias's album Insomniac (due out this Tuesday, and presumably taking advantage of his success with the made-into-a-duet version of "Tired Of Being Sorry" with Nâdiya), go here (physical); as I said, though, I presume the album's being re-released elsewhere eventually too. Since this song is going to be a single, it'll only be posted for a short time.

Next up: maybe something French.

7 comments:

Myfizzypop said...

Oh I heard this today too - it's so cute! I'm so happy this is getting released. it is rather bonza. It takes me back to Escape and Don't Turn Out The Lights. Though Tired of Being Sorry is actually a very fine tune too. It's nice to see some accessible pop Enrique. And i realised i've just practically repeated everything you wrote, but when you are right it's hard to say anything new other than to gush excitedly! I'll stop now :P

Mike said...

Oh I love Enrique even if "Insomniac" was shit on a monumental level. I still listen to "Escape" and "One Night Stand" proudly holds the #23 spot on my iTunes top 25 most played list! Can't wait to hear this new song.

Anonymous said...

This song just proves that you really can't beat a bit of synths (or some handclaps...) to make a great pop song!

LOVE IT!! :)

Poster Girl said...

Yes, TOBS is! I thought for a bit that they were going to release it in the U.S. too, given the whole thing with America's Next Top Model girls from two cycles ago filming appearances for what I could only presume was a re-edited American version, since they're not in the international version.

I was more positive about Insomniac when it first came out than I am now--there are still gems, but as a whole...well, it's no Escape. I still love that you love "One Night Stand"!

TRUTH, DT! You're so right :)

Yuяi said...

I'm not really a big Enrique fan, but this song is the JAM! I'm loving the synths!

D'luv said...

Agree with Mike -- Insomniac was godawful boredom on a whole, though I do still like "Do You Know," and am happy when it pops up on shuffle. While no one really sells albums any more, they can at least be good.

Going to listen to the leaked song now!

Poster Girl said...

I'm so glad you like it! Yup, synths make everything better.

D'luv, I had this whole comment thought up in my head, about how though only four or so songs from the album make my iPod now, I'd go to the mat for "Ring My Bells" as one of the best opening tracks of 2007 (not as in the best track that happened to come first on the album, but as a track that worked as an opener), but then I went back and listened to it again and it was nowhere near as good as I remembered :-/ And I was raving about it (the song) just last January! Oh well--at least it made for fantastic commercial music in that perfume or cologne or whatever it was ad.