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Will. I. Am ft Cheryl Cole - 'Heartbreaker'

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Fraser McAlpine | 13:58 UK time, Monday, 28 April 2008

Will I AmWell, this would be another one to add to the list of 'Collaborations I Really Didn't See Coming', not that I'm not very excited about it. It's quite the coup for Cheryl, isn't it? (Although if Wikipedia is to be believed, which it isn't always, her vocals are only available on the British single release of this track. Not trying to rain on anybody's parade. Just sayin'.)

It is a little bit disappointing that Cheryl's contribution to the track is fairly negligible, though: she sings "you're a heartbreaker" a few times in the chorus and repeats "let's break it down" a few times during the breakdown, and...that's pretty much it. It doesn't even sound especially like her, as much as it just sounds like a generic session singer. Absolutely no disrespect to Cheryl here, but if I heard this on the radio without knowing she was a featured vocalist, I wouldn't have had a clue it was her at all.

Though I should probably recognise at this point that it is a Will.I.Am track and discussions of the weight of Cheryl's contribution should not form the bulk of a review of this track, so I apologise for my hitherto Cheryl-centric outlook.

The song's actually pretty good - a million miles away from the horror that was 'Got It From My Mama', in that it's actually, y'know, a song and not an offensive misogynist nightmare. There's a sensitivity and a delicacy about the whole song that's rather pleasing, though the uptempo electro beats of the chorus mean that you can ignore the sombreness of the words and have a good old dance to it down the local discotheque if that's your preference.

I do have a very slight problem with the lyrics, and it's rather nitpicky of me, but I'm going to voice it anyway: I don't like songs whose basic message is: "I did something bad, but *shrugs* what are you gonna do about it, eh?" In the same way that I was appalled that the general message of Gareth Gates's 'Anyone of Us (Stupid Mistake)' seemed to be "yes, I cheated on you, but it's the sort of thing that could've happened to anyone so you're not allowed to be cross about it",

I'm equally unimpressed that this song seems to have an underlying motif of "I realise I hurt you and that was wrong, but I'm a heartbreaker and I just can't help myself". I know it's only a song, but the lack of accountability for the singer's own actions is pretty irritating.

Personal pet peeves notwithstanding, I really liked this. There's a warmth and emotional depth to it, but most importantly it's a simple and effective pop tune. Job's a good'un, as far as I'm concerned. And I look forward to a possible Justin Timberlake ft. Nicola Roberts collaboration in the near future.

Four starsDownload: Out now
CD Released: May 5th


(Steve Perkins)

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