Talkin’ Tunes: The Renaissance

You read that title correctly folks, Talkin’ Tunes is coming back, and it’s gonna be as mediocre as ever.

The 4 people that actually read all my blogs are probably the same ones who were here for the OG Talkin’ Tunes days, so I’m not gonna go too deep into it, but Talkin’ Tunes was basically my first venture into the blog game. It was me dipping my little 18 year old toes into the violent ocean of “talking about music on the internet”. I did it consistently for 2-3 years. Basically I wrote a weekly blog talking about new music I liked, what I didn’t like, and whatever else was on my mind. I had a ton of fun doing it and recently found myself wanting to put my lil’ piggies back in that pool of water I grew so fondly of.

So, here’s what I’m proposing, Talkin’ Tunes: The Renaissance. Round 2 baby. A weekly blog about anything and everything I’m listening to at the moment. My favorite part about doing this in the past was getting thoughts and opinions and recommendations from whoever actually decided to waste 5 minutes of their day reading along. So if you’ve got a new song I have to check out, you hate a song that I loved or loved a song I hated, just let me know and we can settle our differences like adults: by typing angrily at each other on our phones.

Without further ado, the first post in the resurgence of the hawt musical takes of one djchickenparm:

What’s Good?

One of the reasons I decided this was a good week to bring back Talkin’ Tunes was because there is so much good stuff that dropped last week it’s almost hard to get to all of it. And we’re about to be in the absolute thicc of some other great drops. So what am I liking this week?

Broke and Stupid -Joyner Lucas

I’m not the biggest Joyner Lucas guy to be honest. I knew he had a bunch of beef with like Tory Lanez at one point? Which is just the most uninteresting rap beef I could ever imagine so that just annoyed me? But he’s from Mass and this new song is dope so maybe I gotta revisit the man. I love the beat of this song, the music video’s cool, he’s definitely spitting bars, I can’t not like it. Not sure if there are any huge huge Joyner stans but he has finally got himself out of the “I started stupid rap beef to get publicity” dog house so it’s good start.

LOVE AGAIN -Daniel Caesar and Brandy.

Daniel Caesar’s voice is smooth like butter baby, and I wanna spread it all over the toast that is my headphones. This guy’s got a gift and he’s using it perfectly, over some great R&B production and mixing it with Brandy’s beautiful voice. His music is so sophisticated it makes me wanna sit in a leather library, smoke a cuban cigar and pretend to read a book on European art or something. Guy does something to me. Big fan of this song. He released his album Case Study 01 last week and I only listened through once but between that song and others with features from Pharrell and the coolest man in America John Mayer, it’s confirmed good folks.

Higher Love -Kygo & Whitney Houston

I’m honestly shocked it took so long for this song to come out. It’s got the same exact energy as Kygo’s Sexual Healing remix, which is a certified all-timer. So it only makes sense that this is great also. It’s got that tropical bounce fans of Kygo know to expect from him along with the fun 80s vocals of Whitney from beyond the grave. My only note is that the Steve Wynwood version of this is confirmed FLAMES on it’s own and although this is a great little summer bop I will most likely listen to the Stevie W. version of this more than this 2019 reimagining still. Sorry Kygo.

“Palmolive” -Madlib & Freddie Gibbs (feat. Pusha T & Killer Mike)

This is going to be heat, but for a very specific kind of rap fan. Pusha is spitting HARD with some great verses out of Killer Mike and Freddie Gibbs, all over a Madlib beat that is as hot as ever. He and Freddie just released their new collab album Bandana, and if you like this you’ll love the rest of it.

Bae 5 -Yung Bae

If you’ve seen me in person in the past week or so I’ve probably forced you to listen to Yung Bae’s Bae 5 in it’s entirety at least once…and for that I will not apologize. I am 100% CRAZY for this dude’s music. Lock me up in a damn asylum if it means I can listen to Future Funk 24/7/365. This music is so fun. It’s so groovy. It’s all good vibes. Not only does he have songs that could be popular radio hits like “Bad Boy” and “Up All Night”, but he also just has awesome dance mixes/flips/edits/whatever you want to call them like “Welcome to the Disco” and “We Came To Boogie” that will make you BEG for a dance floor to bust a move on. I’ve listened to this album at least 25 times all the way through since it came out on Friday and you can bet with the little Fourth of July vacation I got coming up that numbers only gonna keep skyrocketing. And of course, if you see me in person I will make you listen to the whole thing as well. I’m sorry, I wish I could help it, but I can’t. You will become a follower of this new age disco revolution whether you like it or not. Ok, that is all. *turns off megaphone*

Is Katy Perry Owning the Summer?

This is something I’d never thought I’d say in the year 2019 but…is Katy Perry just absolutely showing up all the other stars in her weight class right now??? I think if we were really going to start this trend of the most popular artists of like 2014 trying to come back with new music we’d look at T Swift and her single “Me!” which was very very bad.

I was on the fence about this for a while to be honest. I wanted so badly for Taylor to drop the song of the summer. A fun lighthearted catchy song. That’s how she was advertising it. Butterflies going around, a crazy dance sequence, performances on big award shows, and then what did we get? A song that f**cking Elmo decided was too stupid to put on his show? “Hey kids, spelling is fun!” and “You can’t spell awesome, without me!” are maybe the 2 cringiest lyrics to come out of music in the last 10 years, and Kanye once said “I wanna F*** you hard on the sink, after that I’ll give you something to drink”, ok? The song was boring, it didn’t really take off the way her other singles did, and it shows. Cuz then she released her second try with “You Need To Calm Down”.

Thought her lyrics couldn’t get any cringier? Well, about 12 seconds in this song she says “I’m jus like dayum, it’s 7 a aym”. This one is considerably better than the last one don’t get me wrong. I like the lead up to the chorus with those like harmonizing vocals and the bass line is pretty catchy, and I like the message of the song too. Very cool she dropped it during Pride month and is using her platform to promote pride in a mainstream way. That’s awesome. But it still just doesn’t excited me about the song? Like I still wanted this to be the banger of the summer but I’d never like go out of my way to put this on?

It’s the same gripe I have with Ed Sheeran and Justin Biebers song. I’m a big Ed guy. I’m a huge Bieber guy. Why was this song so underwhelming? Neither of them have really made music in a while and they hype up this song and release it and it just sounds like a B-side from one of their 2015 projects.

The lyrics are pretty generically boring, the beats nothing special, I just wanted this to be some crazy new fun direction for these guys and it was none of that.

But you know who did go a lil crazy? Who did make a song that I actively seek out to play? That is doing something new and interesting? Katy. Freaking. Perry.

Sure, this video has less views. Sure, Katy Perry’s stock definitely declined more than Taylor’s and Ed’s and Justin’s did during her break. Sure, Katy Perry is still pretty annoying as a person. But this song is the best out of the past 3 that I’ve mentioned by a MILE AND A HALF. That chorus is FIRE. The beat is fun it’s interesting it’s different for her like this should be the big fun ballad of the summer not those other boring tracks. I’ve been banging this in the car windows down feeling great and it completely owns any of the Taylor songs that have come out. Taylor must’ve seen her song being fire and had to take some of her goodwill by tossing her in the You Need To Calm Down video but don’t let that fool you, Katy’s ruling over Taylor right now in my book. And she’s definitely ruling over Biebs and Ed’s “we had fun with a green screen” music video that’s been done 500 million times since green screen was invented. Like even Action Bronson did it better than you two and that was 4 years ago.

All I gotta say is, I’d only be happy if one of these pop songs was declared song of the summer, and that’s Never Really Over.

Don’t Sleep On It: Mac Miller is In 2 Of The Best Songs Out Right Now

Ever since Mac’s death last year fans were wondering when we’d see the posthumous release of music he was working on. There were rumors he had unreleased songs with a bunch of artists like Post Malone and even a full collab album with producer Madlib. We didn’t see that, but we did see him featured on the Free Nationals x Kali Uchis song “Time” and it’s HEAT.

The Free Nationals bring their funky R&B sound they normally give to Anderson .Paak and distribute to Kali and Mac who absolutely kill it. Kali’s voice is so unique and works so well over their music and then toss a great feature from Mac on it and you’ve just got a great song. I was pumped to just get this gem and then a few weeks later we also got “That’s Life” from 88 Keys and Sia (but mostly, Mac).

Tears. Streaming down my face. This song is just gorgeous. I LOVE this production. 88 Keys murdered it with this beat it truly gives off mixtape Mac Miller vibes. It’s so tough hearing Mac’s lyrics and them being so poignant but the song ending with Sia echoing his words but in the perspective of the rest of us, the fans, it’s truly amazing. I love this song so much and it’s really the perfect sort of send-off track for Mac Miller. I can’t stop listening to both of these songs and really made me miss the dude even more.

Just As Talkin’ Tunes Is Back, So Are Our Favorite Chance Mixtapes

That’s right folks, 10 Day and (most of) Acid Rap are now on streaming services with Coloring Book.

Back when I first started writing Talkin’ Tunes is when I was getting deep into Chance. Acid Rap was a huge part of my freshman year of college. I probably revisit that mixtape at least twice a month in Soundcloud but now I can finally add it to my apple music library and add the songs to some playlists I’ve got in there that deeply needed old school Chance. It’s easily one of my favorite rap projects period. And 10 Day is so so good too and I’m glad that will get more exposure now along with Acid Rap and now this whole new generation who knows him from songs like No Problem can sort of really dive into his discography. With all 3 of his albums out (of which they’re all great, there’s no doubt) it should be enough to hype us up for his debut album set to drop this month. Which, I’m a little worried about, since Groceries isn’t my favorite song of his, but because it’s Chance I have faith.

What to Look Forward to This Week:

• Jaden Smith’s new album “Erys” drops with features from A$AP Rocky, Tyler the Creator and Kid Cudi on Friday
• Post Malone and Young Thug have a song coming Friday titled “Goodbyes”
• Chance the Rapper has a new album dropping in July (date TBD)
• J.Cole’s Dreamville team is dropping their collaborative album “Revenge of the Dreamers III” Friday

That about sums it up folks. Did I miss any good new music that dropped last week? Do you think I owe Taylor Swift an apology like 2007 Kanye did? Do you think 10 Day is better than Coloring Book because you have the incorrect opinions of a hardo? Let me know, and I’ll see ya next week.