In Defense Of... David Guetta's "Turn Me On" feat. Nicki Minaj
Among the electronic music producers who have cashed in on dance music's popularity in the States, I'm most ambivalent about French DJ/producer David Guetta. Last year's album, Nothing But the Beat, took its title pretty literally with two discs of beat, and a couple cameos to keep things interesting.
Guetta's strength isn't in making memorable music; it's giving his guests a platform to excel, as he did with Usher on "Without You." I say he's like Cape Canaveral: He's only important because things launch into space off him.
Guetta's latest single, "Turn Me On," has Nicki Minaj on the launchpad, displaying her adaptability as a performer. She switches from European-style diva to emcee throughout the track's three minutes, and between her upcoming album and the buzzed-about Super Bowl XLVI halftime show appearance this weekend, she's keeping things interesting.
The lyrics are as elastic as Minaj's performance. Lines in the the chorus apply to a few hobbies and career paths: doctors, IT professionals, auto mechanics, illicit fixers, gigolos, and fans of Doctor Who.
"Turn Me On" is also notable because it captures that cyborg mood pop artists rarely evoke when using Auto-Tune. The last pop song I remember that fully appreciated Auto-Tune's Cylon features, instead of winking at them, was Kanye West's "Robocop" on 2008's 808s & Heartbreak. Took you long enough to get the point, pop music.
As a commercial clip, it could fit well into ads for cars or a hospital show. Because of its adaptability, it may endure longer than Guetta's other material, as long as it lets us forget about "I Gotta Feeling."
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