From the early beginnings of 2020, it seems more present than in any other early arrivals to the musical landscape of the year that movie tie ins that support the crossover of two monoliths of the entertainment industry. The inherent idea of both the movie industry and music industry intertwining with each other is by no means a bad idea on paper, in fact as a business strategy, such collaboration seems fitting, having two of the most prominent forms of entertainment and suppliers of popular culture benefiting off both the combined and individual success of the two mediums seems like a logical step in order to further generate global dominance and widespread advertising. But the ultimate issue with this trend that has seemingly polluted January of 2020 stems from the potential success, that being it’s overwhelming power as a means of cross-platform and multimedia promotion and advertising. What has become inherently obvious is the lack of care, consideration and craftsmen ship that has gone into this trade of material, and instead, an increasing need and demand for product has been birthed. The root of this mishap that sees corporations only expand, and as a result, continue with this line of cross-promotional appeal is the increasing lack of care for quality, as release after release, in most cases applying both to the movie and music aspects of the partnership the product at hand becomes less and less about the art form and more about the need to fuel already thriving industries.
This piece comes to light as one of the very worst examples of music being tied to the release of a, what is intended to be a blockbuster movie, is sprung into reality. That being the latest track, ‘Speed Me Up’, featuring the star-studded, yet awfully clumsy collection of collaborators, Wiz Khalifa, Ty Dolla $ign, Lil Yachty, Sueco the Child, and producer Take a Daytrip. If just by witnessing the sheer number of big-name artists packed into a track that is evidently filler for a movie that’s rollout that has been far from exempt of controversy isn’t enough to question the authenticity of the collaborations of the industries, then the music at hand will eliminate any denial. Take a Daytrip demonstrates his uninspired input to the track by creating an instrumental that features clunky and lazy additions to sounds associated with the Sonic franchise. These are evident reminders that this is in fact, a tie in with a greater project, but has been as cheaply added as the track most likely will be to the final movie upon release. The track features these constant drums that are stiff and fast in pace. Used to evoke a sense of intensity and a race against time, the drums hastily run throughout the run time of the track, but remain at a volume that buries several other musical elements underneath it. With the intensity of the drum comes the supposed build-up to the chorus, which is established as if it were a release of energy, lush on synth sounds, yet what we get it perhaps the limpest synth inclusion that are drowned out by the redundant percussion.
The vocal chemistry from all four performers on the track simply doesn’t exist. Starting with the first credited performer, Wiz Khalifa, who has somewhat become the poster child of these poor music/movie tie ins. With a wide diversity of performances on soundtracks including, multiple appearances in the Fast and Furious franchise, Suicide Squad and now Sonic, Wiz is perhaps at the top of the list of artists at the forefront of the movement. This is some of the downright ugliest and murkiest he’s ever sounded vocally, with his phrasing either being cut short for the purpose of eliminating disruption from the production or completely drowned out in vocal synthesizers and effects to mask the unpleasant tone he beholds on the track. Lil Yachty fares a little better with his comedic characteristics fitting more with the goofy and childish references to the world of Sonic, however, his overall presence is overruled by a horrendous beginning to his verse that demands what may be his fattest date to verse. Sacrificing an artist’s style and musical direction in order to satisfy the gimmick of the movie, Yachty feels as if he is trapped into doing a poor impersonation of an Eminem verse. Ty Dolla $ign whilst sounding considerably smoother than the other performers has an uncharacteristic likeness to Wiz on the track. He carries out this murky tone that remains consistent across all performers whilst delivering one of the most forgettable and least inspired verses in his discography. Staying true to the overt representation of Sonic in the lyrical content of the song, Ty’s verse sees some of the cheesiest references across any song associated with a movie in recent memory. The final vocal performer, Sueco is such a non-factor to begin with his inclusion truly baffles. His voice is easily the least distinct and somehow manages to topple Ty’s previous verse in terms of having the least impact on the song. Given the complete lack of time he holds on the track and lack of a fanbase his inclusion feels awfully forced and clumsily inserted. Every performer is stained with a sound that is consistently samey sounding in the worst way possible, yet distinct enough for listeners to hate each and every individual performance in different ways.
This track has all the makings of a song that screams corporate oversight. There isn’t an ounce of integrity or creativity that touched this lazily produced and clumsily conceived track that exists purely to benefit the bank accounts of those involved. And whilst that is ultimately the end goal for anyone in the industry, there is no evidence of any of the musicians involved caring for how this sounded and how this looked on them. In what is perhaps the most blatant of money-hungry and cash grab derived tracks to be associated with a film, the effort of everyone involved can be boiled down exclusively to nothing.
Perhaps more offensive than the atrocity on music that are the beginnings of the Sonic soundtrack, is the now completely released, as of last week, Bad Boys For Life Soundtrack. This ten-song collection sees some of the absolute worst from artists who are hot right now, but even more interesting is the inclusion of efforts equally as bad from artists long forgotten and cast away from the spotlight. Rather than running the risk of repeating everything about just how unimaginative and uninspired the musical work that has gone into composing such a baron and honestly at times ridiculous soundtrack, over and over again, instead only generalisations will be made, with exceptionally bad tracks given further analysis.
The absolute high points of the album are when listeners are encompassed in groovy dance tracks that are heavily inspired by elements of reggaeton and Latina music. Tracks the envelop the body and ear with heavy drum patterns that instill the body with a desire to follow the flow of the tracks. To put it simply the album is best enjoyed when less thought about, but this can only be applied to the handful of tracks that derive from the Latin style of music. These include, ‘Uptown II’, which also features some of the best feature based material from Meek Mill to date, sounding more fiery and energetic as usual, paired with the random inclusion of horn melodies that truly embody a freeing sensation as an inescapable groove consumes you. As well as the track ‘Muevelo’, featuring reggaeton artists Nicky Jam and Daddy Yankee. This features several of the same musical tropes, with the percussive lines that are bursting with energy and flavour, alongside slick vocal performances from both artists that effortlessly fit into the theme and feel of the track.
The lowest of the lows on here seem to force one to forget about any positives the album had. These mainly stem from the tracks ‘RITMO’ by The Black Eyed Peas and J Balvin, and ‘Damn I Love Miami’ by Pitbull and Lil Jon. Looking at ‘RITMO’, the tracks highlights the reasons The Black Eyed Peas have nowhere near the grasp on pop music they did a decade ago. Will.i.am’s flavourless and monotone vocals detract from any energetic vibe the song tries to achieve. With that being said, the track is derivative of reggaeton in the worst way possible, the influence is evidently there, yet it suffers from musical manipulation that can only be described as the Black Eyed Peas effect. This meaning that whatever life and natural appeal the production previously had, had it all sucked out of it and replaced with whatever synth deconstructed sound will.i.am’s confused genius spawns. As for the other members of TBEP and other featured artist J Balvin, their presence, whilst by no means factors that benefit the track, are so overshadowed by the absurdity of the will.i.am conundrum that they coast by seemingly as white noise. It is songs like these that serve as reminders for the necessity of transitions within pop music, and with such change the demand for either a new wave or for established artists to make the appropriate changes, TBEP chose the third option, to remain as unapologetically Black Eyed Peas as possible.
The other bizarre blast from the past is the track ‘Damn I Love Miami’ which features both Pitbull and Lil Jon. As megastars of a pop landscape long and gone, much like the Black Eyed Peas, their inclusion here whilst great for racking up nostalgia points, is baffling and shows just why their names have faded from the spotlight. Everything about the track is so firmly derivative from a sound that Pitbull especially relished in. And that’s the issue, the track feels so out of date as absolutely everything about it feels so 2012. Sticking with the notion that these titans from an earlier pop era have fallen out of touch with today’s music due to a lack of evolution in work of their own feels even more true of a statement for the song than for ‘RITMO’. The production has this droning synth line that sounds exactly like an audio file from 2012 and the song has the signature Pitbull vibe, being party party party. Pitbull as a performer truly brings nothing in the way of skill, this song coasts off the power of his charisma and character, which as demonstrated hasn’t changed one bit since his prime. At its core, this song truly feels like something from a list of Pitbulls old B-sides, and given his actual output hosted little to nothing in the way of technically good music, this stains the track from its origins. Lil Jon’s inclusion feels incredibly unnecessary as his presence is restricted to purely ad-libs. In a musical landscape in which the room for ad-libs has become more and more accepted in songs across all musical genres, Lil Jon’s on the song must be amongst the worst. His roaring croaks, feel more like awkward insertions that distract listeners from an already brainless performance from Pitbull.
Everything else on the soundtrack lays in this middle ground of not being memorable enough, but still being so devoid of any character of musical charisma that it stains the albums and every artist involved reputation. If given the full review, ‘Bad Boys For Life Soundtrack’ would’ve scored a 2/10, as it serves as some of the laziest, least inspired and most by the numbers music made. This statement is true even if it were a stand-alone project without the associations of an overarching product. This being the case, the album feels as if it should be viewed in an even harsher light. This speaks volumes to the commercial capitalisation that encourages and allows artists to try their bare minimum as they know due to associations with bigger products that the music will sell. The Bad Boys for Life soundtrack many than any other I’ve heard in recent memory seems to encapsulate all the problems that arise from such prolific collaboration, stemming from the innate ideology that based on star power and name recognition alone things will succeed.
With all that being said, it would only be fair to recognize the good that has come from the collaborative efforts of the two major entertainment industry. Throughout the intertwining history, there have in fact been many positive turnouts, but for the point of this write-up, the successes of recent times with purely be briefly mentioned, to demonstrate outliers from the ever-increasing pool of low quality, commercialized stuff. The ‘Black Panther’ soundtrack is completely exempt from this rule as it had one of the greatest musicians of the century at the helm of its orchestration. Demonstrating that even with the supportive scaffolding of a greater product behind its creation, that the music could remain substantive, contain its own narrative, and could even hold its own as an individual product, purely music related. Other examples that sparked signs of life as their own body of work, separate from the movie that accompanied were; ‘Spider-man: Into The Spider-Verse’ soundtrack, to some extent Beyonce’s work on the album for the ‘Lion King’ reboot, and even within more recent time, subsequent singles by Janelle Monae for the ‘Lady and the Tramp’ remake and ‘Diamonds’ featuring Megan Thee Stallion and Normani, which is set to join the final body of work to accompany the ‘Birds of Prey’ move later this year. So whilst there are indeed examples of the combined efforts working to create something on both ends create a worthwhile product that seemingly benefits everyone involved, 2020 has revealed an underside of complete laziness in the way of its cross-promotional material, and I believe it to be the humble beginnings of a trend that will only continue to intensify throughout the year.
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