Waiching's Movie Thoughts & More : August 2023

Thursday 17 August 2023

30 Favourite The- Dream & Tricky Stewart Songs

Atlanta-based Christopher Stewart aka Tricky is a 4-time Grammy award-winning producer, music publisher and songwriter with credits such as Beyonce and Rihanna to his name. Along with fellow writer and producer, Terius 'The-Dream' Nash, they have racked up various hit singles and played a significant role in pop and contemporary R&B during the past 30 years. Stewart was rather quiet in the early 2000s but momentum soon picked up come the mid-2000s.

Some of their record-breaking singles include Mya's Case of the Ex - which Tricky co-wrote and produced, Britney Spears' collaboration with Madonna on Me Against the Music, and big hitters in Justin Bieber's Baby and Beyonce's Single Ladies. Tricky is also one of the original founders of label, Red Zone Entertainment alongside his brother and artist manager, Mark E. Stewart that started way back in 1995 and later on enlisting Frank Ocean as one of their artists.

Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), 2008 - Beyonce; part of a double-A side to If I Were a Boy, is considered one of the best songs of the 2000s decade

If I Were A Boy- Beyonce, 2008; more in the vein of a pop ballad, Beyonce explained it was not a traditional R&B song. First real ballad that was later followed up with Broken-Hearted Girl, cowritten by Stargate, Babyface and Beyonce

Break My Soul- Beyonce, 2022; Beyonce's comeback hit and first hit record in over 10 years or so when it was released in 2022, it samples Big Freedia's Explode and Robin S's Show Me Love; more like a club banger, it is unlike anything Tricky Stewart has put out before Break my Soul as it leans more towards dance music, rather than soul or r&b

Case of the Ex (Whatcha Gonna Do) - Mya, 2000

Everything - B2K, 2003

Umbrella - Rihanna featuring Jay-Z, 2007

Touch My Body - Mariah Carey, 2008; one of many bangers courtesy of Mariah and one of several produced by the duo of Tricky and The-Dream for the songstress. Lyrically, they sure know how to write a great pop/r&b song with mainstream appeal

Outrageous - Britney Spears, 2004

Angels Cry (Remix) - Mariah Carey feat. Ne-Yo, 2010; one of my favourite Mariah ballads and collabs/duets, lyrics are honestly beautiful, melodies are smooth and fluid-flowing

Obsessed - Mariah Carey, 2009; perceived by the press as an Eminem diss track, if you listen to the lyrics you can understand how it was related to the whole Mariah vs Eminem furore that blew up in the music world. The record slaps

Cookie Jar - Gym Class Heroes, 2008

Just like Me - T.I featuring Jamie Foxx, 2008

Hard - Rihanna featuring Jeezy, 2010

Baby - L.L Cool J featuring The-Dream, 2008

Leavin' - Jesse McCartney, 2008; a departure from his teenpop roots and is still McCartney's biggest hit single in the U.S

Up on Game - Skylar Stecker, 2019

If I Never See Your Face Again - Maroon 5 featuring Rihanna, 2008

H.A.T.E.U - Mariah Carey, 2010

Rockin' That Thang - The-Dream, 2009

Only Want You - Skylar Stecker, 2017

Lonely Girls Club - Mario, 2009; penned by Ne-Yo but never featured on any of Mario's albums. Pity because this is a great song

Favorite Girl - Justin Bieber, 2009; early Bieber offering from the late 2000s; has a similar-ish beat to 'Baby', another Justin song

Don't Walk Away - Mario, 2009; taken from his album, DNA, this mid-tempo ballad-like effort is solid and is something that could have been penned by songwriting production duo, Stargate

Sexual Capacity - Color Me Badd, 1996; taken from the original motion picture soundtrack of Striptease, the Demi Moore movie, this is slick 1990s' r&b as we know it. Was written by Robin Thicke, who had the famous hit, Blurred Lines with Pharrell Williams

Oh Santa! - Mariah Carey, 2010; Christmas pop r&b track this features Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson. Whilst All I Want for Christmas appeals to mainstream audiences, Oh Santa! is more for Mariah enthusiasts and those who prefer something different to the 1995 hit song

Red Hair - Shawn Desman, 2004; Canada's answer to Justin Timberlake, Keri Hilson provides some of the backing vocals to this song, as well as co-wrote Red Hair. Interestingly, it has the same interpolation as Your Body by Pretty Ricky

Fashion Killa - A$AP Rocky, 2013

I'm Not Okay - Lionel Richie, 2009

Nivea - Watch it, 2006; taken from the album, Animal, which was a Japan exclusive.

Black - The-Dream, 2009

Thursday 10 August 2023

30 Favourite StarGate Songs (2023 edition)

StarGate is a European record-producing and songwriting duo made up of two Norwegians, Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Eriksen, originally from Trondheim, who currently resides in New York City. They first started out writing songs for artists in 1997 in Norway.

The team's earlier successes originated in the UK market with songs like 'S Club Party' for pop act S Club 7, Hear'say's 'The Way To Your Love' and 'One Night Stand' for Mis-Teeq. During the late 1990s to early 2000s, their records leaned more towards Euro-pop, rather than R&B, harking back to Swedish hitmaker, Max Martin and Cheiron Studios. Stargate were best known for producing material for the UK boyband, Blue on every major album of theirs.

I was familiar with some of their work at the time, and as enjoyable as their UK efforts were, many of them weren't groundbreaking, nor were they huge hits. There were a couple of hit songs making it to #1 and the top 10, but they were not at the same level as the songs that later came out during the mid-2000s from this team. By that point, they reached the top 10, four times with Ne-Yo's So Sick and Sexy Love, Rihanna's Unfaithful, Beyonce's Irreplaceable.

Since 2006 and their worldwide breakthrough hit, Ne-Yo's 'So Sick', the pairing has set the U.S. & global charts alight with their brand of R&B music. Their sound changed dramatically (and for the better), once they moved to the U.S. with a more American- sound to them, thanks to a meeting with Shaffer Smith who goes by the moniker of Ne-Yo. In the last few years, musically Stargate's signature sound has gravitated more towards reggae & Caribbean- soca -beats fused with Electropop, due to the influence of Reggaeton. They are heavily noted for their extensive work with Ne-Yo and Bajan pop songstress, Rihanna.

The New York Times Ben Sisaro described Stargate's musical production style as 'sugary, lilting R&B in the style of Michael Jackson, leavened with a melody-rich European pop'.

Their work carries on from the tradition of Scandinavian pop artistry that goes as far back as ABBA, Ace of Base and Max Martin. Whilst Max Martin has since made the transition from bubble gum teen pop to rock/contemporary pop, StarGate has stayed true to its Scandinavian R&B roots.

In the midst of an R&B scene that is and has been constantly dominated by Black African- American music producers, Eriksen and Hermansen offer something completely different to what is already out there, not just in contemporary and mainstream R&B, but R&B and music in general.