Musical charmers from Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Maine Mendoza
Britney Spears’ followers have good reason to cheer: The 34-year-old pop provocateur, whose last album was 2013’s No. 4-charting “Britney Jean,” has just released her latest single, “Make Me”—and it doesn’t disappoint.
Framed by a striking mid-tempo groove and a scorching summery vibe, the catchy makeout track urges guest rapper G-Eazy to “cut the sh*t” and shove the niceties away—because there’s “no shame in the game”: “I just want you to make me move/ Like it ain’t a choice for you, like you got a job to do.”
As was apparent in her “Pretty Girls” collaboration with Iggy Azalea last summer, Britney may not have the enviable range and considerable heft of, say, Christina Aguilera or Ariana Grande, but she has always been an exceptional performer who knows how to “sell the merchandise.”
This time, with the Auto-tune technology refining her idiosyncratic singing style, Britney’s voice isn’t as thin or strained—and it certainly sounds like she’s “ready to rumble” and raring to paint the town red.
While Ariana has decided to revisit her theater roots via “Hairspray,” the perpetually reliable Katy Perry is letting her dance shoes take a break and digging her sparkling heels, instead, into the empowering song, “Rise,” which will be utilized by NBC as its anthem for its coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics’ opening ceremony on Aug. 5.
The moving and moody ballad, Katy’s first release since 2013’s “Prism,” has been brewing inside her head for years—and she’s only too happy that it’s “finally come to the surface,” because of what she describes in a press statement as the “urgent need for the world to unite”: “I know that together we can rise above the fear—in our country and around the world. I can’t think of a better example than the Olympic athletes, as they gather in Rio with their strength and fearlessness, to remind us how we all can come together, with the resolve to be the best we can be. I hope this song can inspire us to heal, unite and rise together,” she stated.
The lyrics’ never-say-die spirit says it all: “I must stay conscious through the menace and chaos/ When the fire’s at my feet again/ And the vultures start circling/ They’re whispering, ‘You’re out of time’/ This is no mistake, no accident/ When you think the final end is near; think again/ Don’t be surprised: I will still rise.”
For something more romantically “aspirational,” local show biz’s femme of the moment, Maine Mendoza, is making her auspicious bid as a singer, by way of “Imagine You & Me,” the theme song of her first solo starrer with Alden Richards—and we’re happy to note that she’s no slouch at singing.
She isn’t bad, but hers isn’t a voice that you’d normally associate with someone who was born to sing. She can carry a tune, all right, but her pipes aren’t sturdy enough to sustain a singing career. So, she shouldn’t quit her day job just yet in favor of singing.
But the singer-actress is served well by the dreamy tune, cowritten by Maine with Vic Sotto, that fits her range, suits her perky personality—and reflects her hit starrer’s feel-good romantic froth and fantasy.
