Sky Ferreira or Inna: Which 'One' is 'Amazing'?
In music, sadness and dancing seem to go together like peanut butter and marmalade: a combination which shouldn't really work, but serves to do nothing but bring out the best in both elements.
Electropop has always known this, which is why so many of its best songs are also the most heartbreaking. And yer silly holiday dance pop has the sadness running through it like the lettering in a stick of rock. Inna and Sky Ferreira know it too, AND their two songs also compliment each other rather nicely.
So it is for THIS REASON ALONE - and not because there seem to be too many noteworthy songs around at the moment - that we shall examine their respective worthinesses together. OK? NOT because of space.
(. It's wavy.)
Inna's song sounds like a hit because it already is a hit. Over on mainland Europe they can't get enough of her holiday dance pop, in much the same way that some people can't get enough of Basshunter. Over here, we're probably a little more likely to spot the flaws in her language than collapse in a frothing heap at her feet. But that's the British for you.
You don't even have to go on holiday to feel it, either. One swish of those baked hissy synths, a strum of that guitar, and you can smell the sun cream and chlorine. And it is always nice when yer happy sunshiney dance music remembers that its job is bring the melancholy. Even when singing a song about how astonishing someone looks, Inna makes it sound like she's turning it all on herself, as if their good looks are the only light she can see by, and without them, the entire world is all solid darkness.
Which might not seem like an obviously holiday-friendly thought, until you're waiting at the airport to come home and you realise you're going to have to sleep on a metal bench because your flight is delayed. It'll make perfect sense then.
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(. It's bulbous.)
The funny thing is, while we scoff and sneer at Inna for singing "the speed of the sound", there's another song around which also brings the mournful, also rests on a bed of sad robotics, and takes just as many liberties with the English language - not least because it keeps sticking on key syllables - and yet it will not be the subject of any schoolmarmish disapproval.
This is because Sky Ferreira is clearly an eccentric. And we all know how much the British love an eccentric. So when she stops her melodies halfway through, to repeat "one-one-one-one" or "up-up-up-up", this is perfectly fine. She's singing into a lightbulb after all, we KNOW how this works.
Inna, by trying to make a song which will appeal to as many people as possible, at a time when they are most receptive to that kind of a thing, has merely created a straw donkey of a song. Something you can use to remember the holiday sunshine.
Meanwhile the girl with the blank, robotty voice and the quirky production tick, and the line in her chorus where it sounds like she's singing "hey Hugh Grant", and the chuntering Lego synths, has made a thing which needs to be puzzled out, and that's always a more satisfying experience. Especially in a nation which considers mindless dancing to be, well, a little vulgar.
Dancing AND reading, that's the way to do it!
Download: Out now
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(Fraser McAlpine)
"There's something really quite soothing about Inna's voice on this track."
"'One' is actually one of a kind. It's dense, robotic, with a dreamlike feel, but it has depth."
Comment number 1.
At 16th Aug 2010, OddOne wrote:'Amazing' is 'Hot' all over again.
'One' sounds unfinished.
3 stars.
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Comment number 2.
At 16th Aug 2010, Haducon2 wrote:Neither are any good really...
'Amazing'- 2 stars
'One'- 3 stars
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Comment number 3.
At 16th Aug 2010, bobgilly wrote:I love ""ONE'''SKY FERREIRA >> it doesnt sound like everything out there
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Comment number 4.
At 16th Aug 2010, bobgilly wrote:I FORGOT TO RATE ...ONE --4 stars Amazing >>.2 stars >.i
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Comment number 5.
At 16th Aug 2010, YT wrote:Sky ferreira is without a doubt amazing. 'One' is amazing and if you've managaed to hear some of her stuff from a few years ago then you wouldn't compare her to Inna anyway....
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Comment number 6.
At 16th Aug 2010, Jordananan wrote:I am a big fan of Sky Ferreira - "One" and it seems she may be another one to watch for the future, though I see her blending into the Diana Vickers/Ellie Goulding category slightly.
I couldn't comment on the Inna song, as I've yet to listen, but I must admit that kind of music is such a guilty pleasure...
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Comment number 7.
At 16th Aug 2010, RandomEnigma wrote:'One' is amazing, really dreamy sounding but with a quiet energy.
'Amazing' is not so amazing and sounds like every other Ibiza record.
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Comment number 8.
At 16th Aug 2010, RandomEnigma wrote:Oh and isn't it surprising that Sky Ferreira is a Cali Gurl.
She looks British, like she belongs in the cast of 'Skins'.
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Comment number 9.
At 16th Aug 2010, kutox wrote:'Amazing' is a forgettable but very summery song - much more summery than bloody California Gurls anyway.
'One' is such a fresh tune - so infectious and addictive. The repetitive hooks might sound annoying at first but I think it works really well.
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Comment number 10.
At 17th Aug 2010, spirit wrote:Amazing will be a top 20 hit , but I do prefer Sky's electro pop !
Especially those keyboard squiggles in her chorus !
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Comment number 11.
At 1st Sep 2010, RandomEnigma wrote:I'm depressed that Sky's simply fantastic 'One' has only peaked at #64. She's bringing freshness into the music industry for me at the minute at a time when I'm feeling a little disillusioned with the current scene.
Her US single 'Obsession' is also really very good! '17' is awful though. Still, she's versatile and her music is intriguing.
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