...'cause when I fall from heaven, will I be forgiven?

Hopefully we'll have something ridiculous and upbeat tomorrow, but for now, a ballad (eep). I wrote about South African singer and former Idols contestant Wafeeq's single classical music-sampling club song "Love Crime" a while ago and only finally got his album just recently. I'm actually very pleased with it; it's good--and, from what I can tell, it really is original material (in the sense of not a bunch of covers recycled from other countries), since all the songs share one or two common songwriters--well, except one, and that's the one I'm sharing. If I'm remembering all this correctly, this song was credited to two writers, one of which was an "S. Perry" (I only remember that because my first thought was of Steve Perry); I haven't been able to find any evidence of anyone else doing a version of it, though, so if you know of one, please let me know! Anyway, back to Wafeeq: despite appearing on the second season of Idols in 2003, he's only just got to release his debut album within the past year or so, so really, he's had to work in the meantime. Most of Hit 'N Go is uptempo, but oddly enough, my favorite song on the album (so far) may very well be this song, the second to last track on the album and one of the album's slower songs.

Fall From Grace--from the first time I heard a clip of this song, I was pretty sure I'd love it--really, I wanted it enough that I probably would have got the album even just for this. It's a mid-tempo ballad that uses the whole grace/heaven metaphor to sing about the damage he's caused to a relationship. "Fall From Grace" features lots of percussion rolls and clicks, which really help the song by giving the already strong melody a distinctive backing. And really, it is a strong melody, one perfect for singing along with, especially the chorus and middle 8 (I love that section at 2:22)--I guess the song is kind of "adult contemporary/MOR," but it's a great example of it if it is. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see "Fall From Grace" crop up on other artists' albums in the future--it's a great song that would deserve it...but if that never happens, it's more than fine, because there's nothing I'd change about Wafeeq's performance of it.

To buy Wafeeq's album Hit 'N Go, go here (physical).

Next up: well, I did mean to write about a certain Swedish artist today, but she's not "ridiculous and upbeat," so maybe she'll have to wait two days so we can do something that is.

I love ya too much to hate ya

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.